The  Master-Knot  of  Human 
Fate 


The  Master-Knot 

of  Human  Fate 


By 

Ellis  Meredith 


Up  from  Earth's  Centre  through  the  Seventh  Gate 
I  rose,  and  on  the  Throne  of  Saturn  sate, 

And  many  a  Knot  unravel'd  by  the  Road  ; 
But  not  the  Master-knot  of  Human  Fate. 

OMAR  KHAYYAM 


Boston 

Little,  Brown,  and  Company 
1901 


Copyright, 
BY  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 


All  rights  reserved. 


UNIVERSITY  PRESS    •    JOHN  WILSON 
AND  SON      .       CAMBRIDGE,   IT.  $.  A, 


341 

M5*> 
mas 


Up  from  Earth's  Centre  through  the  Seventh  Gate 
I  rose,  and  on  the  Throne  of  Saturn  sate, 

And  many  a  Knot  unravel' d  by  the  Road  ; 
But  not  the  Master-knot  of  Human  Fate. 
*  *  *  *  *  * 

Ah  Love  !  could  you  and  I  with  Him  conspire 
To  grasp  this  sorry  Scheme  of  Things  entire, 

Would  not  we  shatter  it  to  bits  —  and  then 
Re-mould  it  nearer  to  the  Heart's  Desire  ! 

OMAR  KHAYYAM 


M597480 


To-night  God  knows  what  things  shall  tide, 
The  Earth  is  racked  and  faint  — 

Expectant,  sleepless,  open-eyed; 

And  we,  who  from  the  Earth  were  made, 
Thrill  with  our  Mother  s  fain. 

KIPLING. 


The  Master-Knot 
of  Human  Fate 

9 

AONG  one  of  the  most  pre 
cipitous  of  the  many  Rocky 
Mountain  trails  a  man  and 
a  woman  climbed  slowly  one  spring 
morning.  The  air  was  cold,  and  far 
ther  up  the  mountains  little  patches 
of  snow  lay  here  and  there  in  the 
hollows.  Two  or  three  miles  below 
them  nestled  one  of  the  most  famous 
pleasure  resorts  of  the  entire  region. 
Three  or  four  times  as  distant  lay  the 
nearest  town  of  any  importance.  Over 
the  plain  and  through  the  clear  atmos 
phere  it  looked  like  a  bird's-eye-view 
map  rather  than  an  actual  town.  Far 
away  to  the  left,  gorgeous  in  coloring 


4  The  Master-Knot 

and  grotesque  in  outline,  could  be  seen 
the  odd  figures  of  many  strangely  piled 
rocks.  « 

The  two  pedestrians  stopped  now 
and  then  to  rest  and  look  away  over 
the  matchless  scene  and  take  in  its 
wonderful  beauty.  The  woman  was 
tall  and  slender,  with  a  superb  carriage. 
Even  on  that  steep  ascent  she  moved 
with  the  grace  and  freedom  of  one 
who  has  entire  command  of  her  body. 
She  was  well  gowned  also  for  such 
an  excursion.  Her  short,  green  cloth 
skirt  did  not  impede  her  movements, 
and  high,  stout  shoes  gave  her  firm 
footing.  She  had  removed  her  jacket, 
and  in  her  bright  pink  silk  blouse  and 
abbreviated  petticoat,  with  the  glow  of 
the  morning  on  her  usually  pale  face, 
she  looked  almost  girlish ;  but  her 
face  was  not  that  of  girlhood.  It  was 
without  lines,  and  the  heavy  masses  of 


The  Master-Knot  5 

her  golden-brown  hair  were  quite  un- 
streaked  with  silver;  but  her  white 
forehead  was  serene  with  the  calmness 
that  follows  overcoming,  and  her  dark 
gray  eyes  saw  the  world  shorn  of  its 
illusions.  In  her  there  were,  or  had 
been,  unrealized  capacities  for  life  in 
all  its  height  and  depth  and  breadth. 
In  studying  her  one  became  vaguely 
aware  that,  having  missed  these  things, 
she  had  found  a  fourth  dimension 
which  supplied  the  loss. 

Her  companion  was  younger  by 
several  years,  and  so  much  taller  that 
she  seemed  almost  small  in  compari 
son.  In  his  eyes  there  danced  and 
shone  the  light  of  truth  and  courage 
and  hope,  and  he  walked  with  the 
buoyancy  of  joy  and  youth.  Israfil, 
Antinous,  Apollo,  —  he  might  have 
stood  as  the  model  for  any  of  them,  or 
for  a  fit  representation  of  the  words  of 


6  The  Master-Knot 

the  wise  man,  "  Rejoice,  oh,  young 
man,  in  thy  youth,  and  let  thine  heart 
cheer  thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth, 
and  walk  in  the  ways  of  thine  heart." 

The  relation  between  the  two 
was  problematic.  Certainly  there  was 
no  question  of  love  on  either  side. 
Equally  certainly  there  existed  be 
tween  them  a  rare  and  exquisite  cama 
raderie,  a  perfect  comprehension  that 
often  made  words  superfluous.  A  look 
sufficed. 

They  toiled  up  the  steep,  narrow 
path  until  they  reached  a  wide  trail,  a 
carriage  road  that  had  been  laid  out 
and  abandoned.  It  swept  around  the 
mountain-side,  miles  above  the  little 
city  on  the  plain,  and  terminated  sud 
denly  at  an  immense  gateway  of  stone. 
Here  the  mountain  had  been  torn 
asunder,  and  two  palisades  of  gray- 
green  rock  rose  grim  and  terrible  for 


The  Master-Knot  7 

hundreds  of  feet,  while  between  them, 
dashing  over  boulders  and  trees  and 
the  impedimenta  of  ages,  a  little 
stream  rushed  along  in  the  eternal 
night  at  their  base.  Far  away  to  the 
west,  range  upon  range  piled  them 
selves  against  the  intense  blue  sky. 
Beyond  a  rustic  gate,  standing  across 
the  path  that  narrowed  to  a  few  feet 
before  the  wall  of  stone,  a  park,  spark 
ling  and  green  in  the  sunlight,  was 
visible.  They  stopped  and  regarded 
the  two  gateways,  —  one  the  work  of 
nature,  the  other  the  feeble  counter 
feit  of  man,  —  and  then  swinging  open 
the  creaking  wooden  affair,  passed 
into  the  peaceful  valley.  A  few  yards 
away  stood  a  small  log  cabin,  but  the 
chimney  was  smokeless,  and  though 
the  chickens  clucked  in  the  yard,  and 
a  collie  lay  on  the  doorstep,  it  seemed 
desolate  and  deserted. 


8  The  Master-Knot 

Passing  along  an  almost  invisible 
trail,  they  found  themselves  in  the 
wildest  and  most  remote  part  of  that 
wild  and  remote  region.  They  saw  a 
few  stray  animals,  but  no  human  beings. 
This  was  one  of  the  few  places  where 
mining  was  not  a  universal  pursuit,  and 
it  was  too  early  to  do  much  in  the 
few  mines  that  did  exist.  There  are 
entire  sections  in  the  Rockies  that 
are  deserted  for  more  than  half  the 
year,  and  this  was  one  of  them.  That 
day  there  was  no  one  at  the  signal 
station.  The  keeper  had  gone  down 
to  the  valley  for  fresh  stores,  and  to 
learn  something  of  the  terrific  disturb 
ances  that  were  said  to  be  threatening 
the  entire  Eastern  coast  with  annihila 
tion.  Perhaps  the  owners  of  the  log 
cabin  had  made  a  similar  pilgrimage. 

The  scene  was  flooded  with  moon 
light  when  the  travellers  passed  the 


The  Master-Knot  9 

gate  on  their  homeward  way,  and  sat 
down  on  a  boulder  a  few  yards  with 
out  the  frowning  portal.  The  night 
was  cold,  and  the  woman  had  put  on 
her  jacket,  and  sunk  her  numbed 
fingers  in  its  pockets.  In  spite  of  her 
weariness  she  was  troubled  and  restless, 
and  turning  looked  first  at  the  beet 
ling  crags  back  of  them,  then  away 
over  the  plain  at  the  twinkling  lights 
of  the  town  below.  They  heard  in 
distinctly  the  sounds  of  bells  ringing 
wildly,  and  overhead  flocks  of  birds 
circled  and  called  with  shrill,  uncanny 
voices.  Yet  the  moonlight  was  so 
bright  that  they  saw  each  other  as 
plainly  as  if  it  were  day,  and  its  placid 
radiance  seemed  strangely  at  variance 
with  the  disturbed  wild-fowl,  and  cer 
tain  weird  and  fitful  sounds  that  seemed 
to  be  sighed  forth  from  the  bosom  of 
the  earth. 


io         The  Master-Knot 

"  It  is  a  pity,"  she  said,  "  that  we 
cannot  pass  through  this  gateway  into 
paradise  without  descending  to  earth 
again/' 

"  I  don't  believe  you  are  half  as 
tired  of  life  as  you  say,"  he  answered 
with  an  impatient  movement  of  his 
head.  "  You  may  not  shrink  from 
death  as  I  do,  or  enjoy  life  so  keenly, 
but  is  n't  it  a  good  thing  to  be  alive 
to-night  ?  Is  n't  it  fine  to  be  a  mile 
or  so  above  the  rest  of  humanity  and 
the  deadly  conventionalities  ?  Are  n't 
you  glad  you  came?" 

She  did  not  answer,  but  presently 
said  dreamily,  "  Suppose  that  plain 
was  the  sea." 

"  It  is  n't  hard  to  suppose,"  he 
answered.  "  I  have  seen  the  Pacific 
when  it  looked  just  so." 

"  Oh,  no,"  she  said  quickly.  "  Noth 
ing  is  like  the  sea  but  itself.  You  will 


The  Master- Knot         n 

never  persuade  me  that  I  love  the 
mountains  so  well.  And  the  plains, 
— just  imagine  if  all  that  gray  green 
silver  were  gray  blue,  with  here  and 
there  a  gathering  crest  of  foam,  rac 
ing  to  break  in  spray  about  these 
mountains  —  " 

"  Why,  look,"  he  said,  drawing  her 
a  little  to  one  side,  "  there  is  your 
liquid  blue,  with  its  white  crest  mov 
ing  toward  us.  Could  the  real  sea 
look  more  wonderful  than  that  ?  It 
is  blotting  out  everything.  Now  it 
recedes,  —  was  it  not  real?" 

She  started  to  her  feet.  "  This  is  a 
very  strange  night,"  she  said  irrele 
vantly,  in  a  rather  strained  voice. 
"  Listen,  —  and  see  how  many  birds  are 
flying  about  us  ;  I  never  saw  them  fly 
so  at  night.  What  does  it  mean  ?" 

They  stood  together,  looking  at 
each  other  with  startled  faces.  The 


12        The  Master-Knot 

whole  mountain,  all  the  mountains, 
seemed  to  be  alive  and  trembling 
under  them.  Overhead  thousands  of 
birds  wheeled  and  screamed  with  terror 
in  their  mingled  outcries.  The  little 
creeping  things  scuttled  away  up 
the  mountain.  The  silver-blue  wave 
widened  and  spread  over  the  plain 
from  north  to  south,  and  the  air  was 
full  of  a  dull,  terrible  roar,  as  if  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  had  broken 
up,  and  a  thousand  white-crested  waves 
rushed  toward  the  hapless  city  before 
them.  They  covered  it,  and  with  a 
wild  jangle  of  bells,  faintly  audible 
over  the  tumult,  it  sank  out  of  sight, 
all  the  gleaming,  dancing  lights  dis 
appearing  in  an  instant.  The  white 
crests  came  on  and  broke  about  the 
mountains,  and  receded  and  came  on 
again  with  a  deafening  roar.  Then 
the  crust  of  the  earth  between  the 


The  Master- Knot         13 

mountain  range  and  the  spot  where 
the  city  had  been,  seemed  to  crack 
like  a  bit  of  dried  orange  peel,  and 
the  flood  rushed  over  the  abyss,  and 
there  arose  a  blinding  steam  that  hid 
the  whole  scene  below,  and  ascend 
ing  circled  the  mountain  peaks  in 
mist. 

All  about  them  on  the  mountain 
side  rose  the  cries  of  terrified  wild 
things,  and  along  the  narrow  pathway 
into  the  park  a  herd  of  cattle  and 
horses  rushed  and  disappeared  among 
the  aspens  that  trembled  as  never 
before.  The  collie,  scenting  their 
presence,  came  and  crouched  whin 
ing  at  their  feet,  and  a  bird  fell  ex 
hausted  into  the  woman's  arms.  She 
closed  her  hands  over  it,  unconsciously 
giving  it  the  protection  none  could 
give  them,  and  in  the  fog  moved 
toward  the  figure  of  her  companion. 


14        The  Master- Knot 

His    arm    closed    about    her     convul 
sively. 

"  Shall  we  go  farther  up  the  moun 
tain  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  *  If  it  be  now,  't  is  not  to  come  ; 
if  it  be  not  to  come,  it  will  be  now/  ' 
she  answered,  insensibly  finding  it 
easier  to  use  another's  words  than  to 
coin  phrases  while  holding  death-watch 
over  a  continent. 

They  sat  down  on  the  boulder. 
After  what  seemed  like  countless  hours, 
she  said,  "  I  wonder  how  long  we 
have  been  here.  Perhaps  it  is  years." 

He  looked  at  his  watch.  "  I  do 
not  know  whether  we  are  in  time  or 
eternity/'  he  answered  simply.  "  It 
is  nearly  four  o'clock  by  this  watch." 

Through  the  dense  vapor  they  saw 
the  sun  rise,  red  and  sullen,  but  the 
mist  was  so  impenetrable  that  they 
dared  not  move  about.  The  day  and 


The  Master-Knot         15 

night  passed,  almost  without  their 
knowledge,  and  the  second  morning 
found  them,  as  the  first,  by  the  great 
boulder.  The  wind  rose  with  the  sun, 
and  when  it  blew  aside  the  veil  of 
mist,  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  there 
rolled  a  sea,  white-capped,  turbulent, 
fretful,  as  if  unwilling  to  leave  a 
single  peak  to  tower  above  its  lordly 
dominion. 

The  man  and  woman  followed  the 
collie  to  the  cabin,  and  there  found 
some  food,  then  they  retraced  their 
way  until  they  could  look  down  over 
the  valley  where  the  town  had  slept. 
Nothing  was  left.  There  was  not 
even  a  prospector's  cabin.  The  shock 
which  had  succeeded  the  first  wild 
dash  had  been  volcanic.  The  very 
canons  looked  strange,  and  though 
they  called  again  and  again  there  came 
no  answer. 


1 6        The  Master-Knot 

"  Come,"  the  man  said  imperiously. 
"  Let  us  go  to  the  Peak.  There 
must  be  some  one  there." 

They  reached  the  signal  station  late 
in  the  afternoon ;  no  one  was  there. 
Looking  down  from  that  awful  emi 
nence,  they  saw  on  the  other  side  of 
the  range  the  same  desolation,  the 
same  watery  waste.  They  seemed  to 
be  on  an  island,  alone  on  a  wide, 
wide  sea.  Nowhere  curled  a  friendly 
wreath  of  smoke  ;  nowhere  was  there 
sound  of  any  human  thing. 

They  went  wearily  back.  There 
was  nowhere  else  to  go.  If  the  gate 
way  had  been  awful  in  its  solitude,  the 
Peak  was  still  more  desolate.  There 
was  nothing  living  there,  except  them 
selves  and  the  dog  that  followed  closely 
at  their  heels,  making  no  excursions 
of  its  own.  The  hour  was  wearing 
toward  midnight  when  they  sank  down 


The  Master- Knot        17 

by  the  boulder  once  more  to  watch 
the  darkness  disappear,  and  wait  for 
they  knew  not  what.  The  man  built 
a  huge  fire,  so  that  if  any  other  waifs 
had  been  left  by  this  wreck  of  a  world 
they  might  see  the  beacon,  and  reply 
in  some  fashion.  They  did  not  talk, 
except  now  and  then,  in  a  half  whis 
per,  they  gave  monosyllabic  queries 
and  replies.  The  shock  that  had  ob 
literated  a  continent  seemed  to  deprive 
them  of  all  active  use  of  their  senses. 
They  moved  only  in  circles,  returning 
always  to  the  place  from  which  they 
had  watched  the  cataclysm. 

It  was  almost  sundown  when,  with 
a  superhuman  effort,  they  again  en 
tered  the  sunny,  beautiful  park.  The 
air  was  balmy,  and  there  all  remained 
quite  as  before.  In  front  of  the  cabin 
stood  an  Alderney  ;  as  they  approached 
her,  she  lowed  uneasily.  The  woman 


1 8         The  Master- Knot 

looked  up,  and  then  spoke  aloud  with 
the  quick  sympathy  that  had  always 
been  her  greatest  attraction.  She 
seemed  to  understand  so  readily, 
whether  it  was  a  man's  head,  a 
woman's  heart,  or  an  animal's  wants. 
"She  needs  to  be  milked,"  she  said, 
and  pushing  open  the  door  she  entered 
the  cabin.  There  were  two  rooms, 
the  farther  of  which  was  evidently  a 
bedroom.  There  was  a  large  fireplace 
at  one  end  of  the  main  room.  At  one 
side  of  it  was  a  primitive  dresser,  with 
such  utensils  and  china  as  the  place 
afforded;  on  the  other  were  some 
miner's  implements  and  a  shovel. 
There  was  a  small  table  and  beside 
it  were  placed  two  chairs.  There  was 
a  rocker  by  the  one  window,  and  a  pot 
of  geraniums  on  the  sill ;  forming  a 
kind  of  window  seat  was  a  long  sea 
man's  chest.  At  the  other  end  of  the 


The  Master-Knot         19 

room  there  was  a  desk  covered  with 
green  oilcloth,  and  above  it  was  a  shelf 
containing  some  books  and  a  clock. 

The  woman  took  off  her  hat  and 
jacket  and  brushed  back  her  hair,  then 
turning  back  her  sleeves  went  outdoors 
again.  Under  the  rude  porch  on  a 
slab  table  stood  a  number  of  buckets, 
and  there  was  a  stool  by  the  door. 
She  took  a  bucket  and  the  stool  and 
walked  away  a  few  paces,  the  Alderney 
following.  As  she  began  milking  she 
looked  over  her  shoulder  at  the  man 
watching  her  and  said,  "  Won't  you 
build  a  fire?" 

He  gathered  some  wood  and  went 
into  the  cabin.  She  threw  out  the 
first  pint  or  so  of  milk,  then  finished 
milking  and  strained  the  foaming 
contents  of  her  pail  into  some  crocks 
left  sunning  by  the  door,  and  went 
into  the  house.  She  found  some  corn- 


2O        The  Master-Knot 

meal  and  salt,  and  deftly  mixed  the 
dough,  and  arranging  the  shovel  in 
the  hot  ashes,  set  her  hoe-cake  to 
bake.  In  the  mean  time  the  man  had 
brought  water  from  the  brook,  and  as 
the  woman  swung  the  crane  over  the 
blaze,  he  filled  the  iron  kettle  hang 
ing  therefrom.  There  was  some  sour 
milk,  and  by  a  mysterious  process  she 
converted  it  into  Dutch  cheese.  There 
was  some  butter  and  a  few  eggs,  and 
she  found  a  white  cloth  and  spread  the 
table  with  the  few  poor  dishes,  plac 
ing  the  geranium  in  the  centre.  As 
the  water  steamed  and  boiled,  she 
caught  up  a  tin  canister. 

"  See,"  she  said  with  forced  gayety ; 
"let  us  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,  for 
there  is  just  enough  tea  in  the  world 
for  two  people  to  drink  once  !  " 

She  made  the  beverage  and  poured 
it  into  the  thick  cups,  and  breaking 


The  Master-Knot         21 

the  yellow  pone  and  piling  it  on  a 
platter,  they  sat  down  to  the  strangest 
meal  they  had  ever  known. 

The  man  watched  her  with  fasci 
nated  eyes.  He  had  never  before  seen 
her  do  anything  for  herself,  yet  she 
presided  over  the  simple  meal  she  had 
prepared  as  graciously  as  over  the  course 
dinners  of  her  chef.  How  should  she 
know  how  to  make  hoe-cake  ? 

All  through  the  singular  feast  the 
sparkle  and  play  of  her  fancy  kept 
them  in  hysterical  laughter.  After 
wards,  as  she  cleared  away,  the  same 
wild  mood  possessed  her.  The  man 
wondered  if  her  mind  was  going 
with  all  else;  but  as  she  hung  up 
the  towel,  her  humor  changed,  and 
she  ran  out  of  the  cabin  into  the 
dusk  as  if  she  could  not  bear  the 
simple,  homely  tasks  in  a  homeless 
world,  the  firelight  and  the  bounds  of 


22         The  Master-Knot 

a  dwelling  when  doom  must  be  at 
hand.  The  man  put  a  fresh  log  on 
the  fire,  and  covered  the  coals  with 
ashes.  He  would  have  preferred  to 
remain  there,  but  he  knew  why  she 
was  hurrying  back  to  the  mountain 
side,  and  he  took  her  coat  and  followed 
her.  She  was  standing  by  the  boulder, 
looking  out  over  the  waters  with  a 
despair  on  her  face  that  made  him 
groan.  It  was  so  like  what  he  felt 
in  his  heart.  She  pointed  weakly 
toward  the  water,  but  her  lips  formed 
no  words. 

"Yes,"  he  answered,  "it  was  not  a 
dream/' 

Dawn  found  them  still  sitting  by 
the  boulder.  The  man  shook  her  half 
roughly. 

"  Come,"  he  said,  "let  us  go  back  to 
the  cabin." 

"No,"    she    answered.     "I    cannot 


The  Master-Knot         23 

believe  it ;  we  are  both  mad.  We 
are  dreaming  the  same  mad  dream; 
let  us  go  down,  and  when  we  feel  the 
spray  on  our  faces,  and  taste  the  brine, 
it  will  be  time  enough  to  believe." 

She  began  the  descent  with  reckless 
rapidity,  and  he  followed,  checking 
and  holding  her  back.  The  roar  of 
the  surf  grew  momentarily  louder,  but 
though  she  looked  at  him  with  wild, 
grieved  eyes,  she  went  on.  A  monster 
wave  dashed  up  over  the  rocks  and 
wet  them  to  the  skin.  She  flung  out 
her  arms,  and  would  have  fallen  head 
long  into  the  greedy,  crawling  water, 
but  he  caught  her  and  made  his  way 
back.  The  hot,  bitter  tears  on  her 
face  brought  her  to  herself,  and  with 
one  great  sob  she  broke  down,  cling 
ing  to  him  and  crying  till  from  sheer 
exhaustion  she  fell  asleep. 

He  carried  her  back  to  the  cottage 


24        The  Master-Knot 

and  laid  her  gently  on  the  bed  in  the 
tiny  room.  Her  hair  was  falling  about 
her,  and  he  removed  her  dusty  shoes, 
and  covered  her  over  as  if  she  had 
been  a  child.  Then  he  went  out  into 
the  sunlight  and  sat  down  on  the  door 
step  and  tried  to  grasp  the  situation. 

He  had  been  a  very  ambitious  man, 
and  she  had  been  as  ambitious  for  him 
as  he  was  for  himself;  that  had  been 
the  main  bond  of  union.  He  was  to 
have  made  a  great  place  in  the  world : 
the  applause  of  listening  senates  was  to 
have  been  his ;  wealth,  fame,  position, 
all  the  possibilities  of  life  were  gone ; 
nothing  but  barely  life  itself  remained. 
A  living  might  be  wrung  from  nature, 
but  for  ambition,  —  what  ?  Surely 
somewhere  on  earth  there  were  other 
human  beings ;  the  destruction,  if  irre 
parable,  was  not  universal.  Sooner  or 
later  some  hardy  sailor  would  find 


The  Master-Knot        25 

the  surviving  peaks  of  this  new  At 
lantis.  At  least,  if  the  woman  within 
was  not  his  world,  he  was  thankful 
that  no  one  else  was ;  and  having 
looked  the  grim  truth  in  the  face, 
he  too  slept. 

It  was  long  past  noon  when  the  dog 
wakened  him,  and  he  started  to  his 
feet,  determined  that,  having  lost  all 
else,  they  should  keep  their  sound, 
clear  brains.  He  walked  about  the 
park,  which  contained  perhaps  five 
hundred  acres.  There  were  half  a 
dozen  cows,  as  many  horses,  some 
burros,  and  a  few  chickens.  There 
was  a  rude  stable  and  a  few  farm 
implements.  There  was  a  large  tunnel 
in  the  mountain-side,  and  some  mining 
machinery  lying  about  its  entrance. 
The  dog,  seeming  to  realize  some 
of  the  responsibilities  of  life,  herded 
the  cattle  and  drove  them  toward  the 


26        The  Master-Knot 

cabin.  When  they  reached  it,  she 
was  standing  in  the  doorway.  She  had 
made  her  toilet,  and  looked  fresh  and 
calm. 

"These  are  our  flocks  and  our 
herds,"  he  said  in  greeting.  "What 
shall  we  call  them  ?  " 

She  smiled  rather  wanly.  "  Was  n't 
it  Adam  who  named  the  animals? 
You  shall  have  that  honor." 

"Very  well,"  he  answered;  "but  if 
this  is  the  garden,  there  is  an  angel 
with  a  flaming  sword  at  the  gateway. 
Do  not  pass  it  again.  Our  life  is 
here,  here,  —  do  you  understand  ?  We 
must  give  ourselves  time  to  get  used  to 
it,  time  to  realize  that  we  are  alive. 
We  must  be  very  patient,  for  whatever 
has  befallen  us,  whether  we  are  in  the 
body  or  out  of  it,  this  through  which 
we  have  passed  is  a  miracle,  and  only 
time  can  tell  if  it  is  more.  Do  not 


The  Master-Knot         27 

look  upon  the  change  again,  at  least 
not  now.  You  will  stay  here,  and  we 
will  work  together,  and  be  content  for 
awhile?" 

"  Content  ? "     she    said,    "  content  ? 
We  will  be  happy." 


II 

There  is  always  work, 
And   tools   to  work   withal^  for   those  who 

will; 
And  blessed  are  the  horny  hands  of  toil! 

LOWELL. 


"  ^M  ^^  O  you  remember  Gabriel 
1  •  Betteredge  ? "  asked  Adam, 
M  J  a  day  or  so  later,  as  he 
watched  her  set  the  house  in  order 
after  their  breakfast.  "  You  know  in 
times  of  great  mental  perturbation  he 
always  sought  comfort  and  counsel 
from  the  pages  of  '  Robinson  Crusoe/ 
When  in  doubt  he  waited  until  to 
morrow,  as  Robinson  advised ;  and  no 
matter  what  his  perplexities,  he  always 
found  just  what  he  wanted  in  that 
infallible  book.  If  I  remember  cor 
rectly,  but  it 's  years  since  I  read  it, 
Robinson  goes  on  a  voyage  of  dis 
covery  the  first  thing." 

"  He  built  a  raft  to  get  away  from 
the  wreck  first,  I  think,"  she  said 
reflectively.  "  Or  did  he  build  the 


32         The  Master-Knot 

raft  to  get  to  the  wreck  ?  I  can't  re 
member.  And  then  he  built  a  house. 
Somewhere  along  there  he  wrote  down 
his  situation  in  a  deadly  parallel ;  I 
have  sometimes  wondered  if  he  was 
the  inventor  of  that  style.  But  he 
offset  the  debit  of  being  cast  away 
with  gratitude  for  having  escaped  with 
his  life.  We  're  not,  at  least  I  'm 
not,  sure  that  belongs  on  the  credit 
side." 

"We  don't  want  to  do  much  ex 
ploring  yet,"  he  answered.  "  If  we 
have  no  wreck  to  supply  us  with  all 
sorts  of  things,  we  have  a  house  ready 
to  hand,  not  exactly  as  we  would 
either  of  us  have  ordered  it,  I  fancy, 
but  better  than  we  could  build.  Do 
you  know  what  there  is  in  it?  We 
might  begin  our  investigations  here." 

" '  With  lamp  in  hand  we  will  ex 
plore/  "  she  hummed,  "but  two  rooms 


The  Master- Knot        33 

and  a  cellar  do  not  promise  much. 
There  is  nothing  to  see  in  this  room, 
except  what  we  do  see,  and  the  con 
tents  of  that  chest,  which  is  locked." 

Adam  tried  the  lock,  then  shook 
the  chest.  "  There  5s  nothing  in  it, 
anyhow/'  he  said. 

"As  to  the  other  room,"  she  went 
on,  "there  is  a  bedroom  set,  —  a  better 
one  than  I  should  have  expected  to 
find  in  a  place  like  this,  —  and  a  closet 
with  some  clothes  in  it.  The  man 
was  about  your  size,  but  the  feminine 
garments  —  well  —  they  are  all  about 
the  length  of  my  bicycle  skirt,  and  on 
the  shelf  there  is  a  pile  of  bedding. 
There  is  no  trap  door  leading  into  either 
subterranean  or  overhead  apartments. 
In  fact,  there  is  nothing  else,  except 
a  chair.  It's  very  uninteresting." 

Adam  had  been  moving  about  the 
room,  and  stopped  before  the  book- 

3 


34        The  Master-Knot 

shelf.  He  wound  the  clock  mechani 
cally,  and  read  the  titles  of  the  books 
aloud.  A  chemistry,  a  book  on  elec 
tricity,  a  Bible,  a  worn  copy  of  Tenny 
son,  the  "  Yankee  at  King  Arthur's 
Court,"  and  a  patent  medicine  almanac 
made  up  the  list. 

"There  is  one  mysterious  thing,"  he 
said,  "and  that  is  the  packing  cases  out 
under  the  shed.  I  can't  make  up  my 
mind  what  they  contain,  and  I  don't 
quite  feel  that  we  ought  to  open 
them ;  I  should  like  to ;  they  look  as 
if  they  might  hold  —  " 

"Canned  goods?"  she  said  inter 
rogatively. 

"  I  was  going  to  say  books,  but  I  sup 
pose  we  need  canned  lobster  more,"  he 
assented.  "  If  you  are  sure  they  contain 
oats,  peas,  beans,  or  barley,  or  any 
thing  that  the  farmer  knows,  that 
would  justify  me  in  opening  them." 


The  Master-Knot         35 

He  took  up  a  hatchet,  and  they  went 
out  and  inspected  the  boxes,  which 
were  very  large  and  strong. 

"Let's  not  open  them  yet,"  she 
said.  "There  is  one  other  treasure 
in  one  of  the  bureau  drawers ;  it  is  a 
box  with  seeds  of  almost  every  kind. 
They  ought  to  have  known  most  of 
those  things  would  n't  grow  up  this 
close  to  timber-line." 

"  Probably  they  were  sent  by  the 
congressman  from  this  district,"  Adam 
said  dryly.  "  But  I  'm  not  so  sure 
they  won't  grow.  Have  you  noticed 
how  warm  it  is,  how  very  unlike 
what  it  has  always  been  ?  Let  us  go 
to  the  stables,  and  see  what  we  can 
find  there." 

They  went  up  a  path,  past  a  gar 
den,  fenced  with  woven  wire,  through 
which  the  chickens  looked  longingly. 
Under  some  sashes  forming  a  primitive 


36        The  Master-Knot 

greenhouse,  lettuce  and  radishes  were 
making  good  headway.  Nothing  else 
had  come  up,  though  there  were  many 
beds,  with  small  slips  of  board,  like 
miniature  tombstones,  showing  what 
had  been  planted.  The  stables  and 
cow-barn  were  all  under  one  roof, 
and  would  accommodate  several  horses 
and  a  few  cows.  There  was  hay  and 
fodder  in  a  lot  adjoining,  and  a  few 
ordinary  farm  implements,  a  plow,  a 
harrow,  and  a  cultivator  in  a  shed 
addition. 

"  Do  you  know  what  it  is  for  ? " 
she  asked  mischievously,  as  he  pulled 
out  the  plow. 

"  Do  you  think  I  never  remembered 
the  granger  vote  in  my  ambitions?" 
he  answered.  "  I  can  plow,  and  I 
have  planted  and  snapped  corn,  and 
cut  fodder,  and  dug  potatoes  —  I  won 
der  if  there  are  any  here  ? " 


The  Master-Knot        37 

"Yes,"  she  answered;  "in  the  cellar, 
at  least  a  bushel,  mostly  gone  to  eyes, 
but  I  forget  how  thick  to  cut  them. 
If  we  were  only  '  The  Swiss  Family 
Robinson,"'  she  went  on,  "we  should 
find  yams  and  pineapples  and  oranges 
and  sugar-cane  and  bananas  coming  up 
between  the  rocks.  As  it  is,  I  am 
thankful  to  the  congressman  who  sent 
the  peas  and  morning-glories." 

"  There  is  only  about  enough  wheat 
and  corn  to  plant  fifteen  acres,"  Adam 
said,  making  a  rough  calculation  in 
his  mind.  "  I  will  plow  a  little  over 
that,  so  as  to  have  a  patch  for  the 
potatoes,  and  get  it  ready  as  soon  as 
possible." 

"  I  know  how  to  plant  corn  and 
potatoes,"  she  said  eagerly.  "Just  as 
soon  as  you  get  part  of  the  land  ready, 
I  will  begin.  You  did  n't  know  I 
was  brought  up  on  a  ranch,  did  you  ? 


38         The  Master-Knot 

I  never  was  very  fond  of  recalling  it. 
It  is  a  perpetual  round  of  conditions 
unlike  any  theory  ever  heard  of."  She 
shrugged  her  shoulders,  and  stopped 
at  the  rude  table  under  the  porch  to 
crumb  some  slices  of  what  looked  like 
a  kind  of  cornbread. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  he  asked  curiously. 

"  That  is  to  enable  us  to  make  light 
of  our  troubles/'  she  replied  solemnly. 
"Or,  for  thy  more  sweet  understand 
ing  it  is,  or  at  least  I  hope  it  will  be, 
yeast.  I  found  a  Twin  Brothers  yeast 
cake,  and  from  it,  behold  the  brethren  ! 
I  know  that  raised  bread  is  unhealthy, 
and  that  to  get  the  worth  of  your 
money  you  ought  to  eat  the  bran  also, 
and  that  the  best  bread,  from  the 
hygienic  standpoint,  is  made  from 
wheat-paste,  and  is  about  the  con 
sistency  of  sole  leather  ;  but  even  if 
yeast  does  shorten  our  lives,  I  don't 


The  Master-Knot        39 

know  that  I  shall  give  it  up  on  that 
account/' 

The  planting  of  their  crops  took 
several  weeks,  and  was  very  hard  work, 
for  neither  of  them  was  an  expert 
farmer.  When  the  corn  and  wheat 
came  up  there  were  almost  no  weeds, 
and  the  stand  was  better  than  usual  for 
sod  land ;  but  they  were  kept  busy 
warding  off  the  horses  and  cattle  that 
preferred  the  fresh  young  corn  and 
wheat  to  the  indifferent  natural  grass. 

"  I  thought,"  she  said  wearily,  after 
driving  away  the  intruders  for  the 
third  time,  —  "I  thought  fences  were 
a  sign  of  civilization,  but  they  seem  to 
be  the  first  necessity  of  the  wilderness/' 

She  was  sitting  on  a  rock,  fanning 
her  flushed  face  with  her  sombrero, 
when  Adam  came  to  her  assistance. 

"  You  should  have  waited,"  he  said. 
"  I  was  coming,  but  I  had  to  hitch  the 


4O        The  Master-Knot 

team."  He  turned  and  looked  at  her, 
and  laughed  boyishly.  "The  run 
has  n't  hurt  you/'  he  said ;  "  you 
look  like  a  wild  rose.  I  believe  I 
shall  call  you  so  ;  may  I  ?  I  can't  call 
you  by  the  old  name." 

She  colored  hotly,  then  turned  quite 
pale,  and  there  was  a  touch  of  reserve 
in  her  voice  as  she  answered  rather  too 
indifferently,  "If  you  choose,  still  I 
think,  O  Adam  Crusoe,  that  Friday 
or  Robinson  would  be  a  better  name." 

"  We  '11  compromise  on  Robin,"  he 
said.  "  A  rose  by  any  other  name  is 
just  as  sweet." 

"  I  wish  we  had  a  fence,"  she  said 
turning  the  subject  hastily. 

"  We  have,"  he  answered.  "  If  we 
were  to  build  one  ourselves,  it  would 
have  to  be  of  rocks,  but  Nature  has 
provided  a  magnificent  stone  barrier. 
We  have  only  to  drive  the  animals  we 


The  Master-Knot        41 

are  not  using  through  the  gateway, 
and  fasten  that  little  wooden  concern 
after  them.  There  is  good  pasture 
outside,  and  if  we  need  them  we  can 
go  after  them.  Lassie  will  look  after 
Daisy  and  Lily,  won't  you,  little  dog  ? 
I  will  go  and  open  the  gate  and  drive 
them  through.  You  help  Lassie  keep 
those  two  back." 

She  stood  undecidedly,  and  he  turned 
and  said  gently,  "  I  will  come  back 
without  passing  through  the  gate 
way.  I  will  never  pass  it  without 
you.  I  would  n't  dare.  Now  see 
how  nicely  Lassie  will  conduct  this 
round-up." 

As  he  went  toward  the  gateway,  her 
eyes  followed  him  with  a  look  he 
would  hardly  have  comprehended,  it 
was  so  full  of  relief  and  gratitude. 
He  understood  and  reassured  her  with 
out  noticing  her  fears  or  smiling  at 


42        The  Master- Knot 

her  weakness.  Every  day  and  many 
times  she  thanked  God  that,  of  all 
the  men  who  might  have  been  left 
by  this  modern  deluge,  it  was  Adam 
who  had  been  with  her  and  was  with 
her  in  this  terrible  experience. 


//  might  be  months,  or  years,  or  days, 
I  kept  no  count,  —  /  took  no  note. 

BTRON. 


THEY  had  been  on  the  island 
nearly  four  months.  The 
corn  was  waving  in  the  soft 
breeze,  and  the  sun  shone  down  hotly. 
Indoors  sweet  corn  was  boiling  in  the 
same  pot  with  new  potatoes,  while  in 
an  improvised  milk-boiler  on  coals,  at 
one  side  of  the  fireplace,  peas  were 
simmering.  The  table  was  spread, 
and  there  was  white  bread  and  jersey 
butter  and  raspberries.  Adam,  with 
Lassie's  puppies  crawling  over  him, 
sat  in  the  doorway,  and  watched  Robin 
put  the  finishing  touches  to  their  Sun 
day  dinner. 

His  apparel  was  somewhat  pictur 
esque,  and  he  had  a  brown  and  thor 
oughly  healthy  look.  Robin  was 
dressed  in  a  costume  of  blue  denims. 


46        The  Master-Knot 

The  skirt  was  rather  short,  and  the 
waist  was  a  blouse,  finished  at  the 
throat  with  a  broad  collar  that  turned 
away  from  a  neck  still  white  in  spite 
of  much  sunlight.  Their  months  of 
roughing  it  had  not  harmed  them,  and 
only  the  intense  sadness  in  Adam's 
eyes,  the  pathetic  droop  of  Robin's 
mouth,  when  they  thought  themselves 
unobserved,  told  a  story  different  from 
that  of  pastoral  content. 

Their  meal  was  unusually  silent. 
Sometimes  they  fell  into  long  lapses  of 
silence ;  there  was  so  much  not  to  say. 
In  all  the  weeks  of  the  past  they  had 
worked,  almost  feverishly,  allowing  as 
little  time  as  possible  for  thought,  and 
never  speaking  of  what  was  oftenest 
in  their  minds.  Much  of  the  time 
Adam  seemed  to  be  in  a  dream,  only 
half  realizing  the  flight  of  time,  that 
made  hope  more  and  more  hopeless. 


The  Master-Knot        47 

Robin  said  nothing.  One  would  not 
seek  to  console  the  sky  with  phrases  if 
all  the  stars  were  wiped  out.  She  half 
reproached  herself  at  times  for  the 
peace,  the  something  akin  to  happi 
ness,  that  had  crept  into  her  life. 
She  had  long  before  grown  very  weary 
of  the  world  and  all  it  had  to  offer. 

She  was  stung  at  the  sight  of  Adam's 
quiet  face,  with  the  repressed  suffering 
that  had  somehow  touched  it  with  a 
beauty  it  had  not  possessed,  and  she 
said  impetuously,  "  Let  us  go  out, 
Adam ;  let  us  go  quite  away  some 
where,  and  talk.  There  is  so  much 
I  want  to  ask  you,  but  I  have  not 
dared." 

He  looked  up  with  such  a  hurt 
expression  that  she  went  on  quickly, 
"Not  that;  I  mean  I  couldn't.  I 
have  been  afraid  to  put  things  in  words. 
They  grow  so  much  more  real  then. 


48         The  Master-Knot 

But  now  I  am  afraid  to  keep  my 
thoughts  longer." 

They  went  past  the  wheat  and  corn 
fields,  through  a  narrow  canon  that 
led  them  to  a  valley  they  had  never 
seen  before.  It  was  very  beautiful, 
and  the  play  of  the  sunlight  on  the 
high  walls  of  rock,  the  murmur  of  the 
stream  below  them,  the  trembling 
aspens,  the  white  peaks  in  the  distance, 
made  a  scene  worthy  their  attention, 
but  they  were  blind  to  it. 

They  sat  down  on  a  broad  stone 
seat ;  presently  Adam  said,  "  Now,  tell 
me ;  tell  me  how  it  seems  to  you." 

"  No,"  she  answered,  "  you  must  tell 
me.  What  has  happened  to  us,  Adam  ? 
Where  are  we,  and  why  were  we 
left?" 

"  God  knows/'  he  said  reverently. 

"  Do  you  think  it  possible,"  she  said 
slowly,  "that  we  are  dead?" 


The  Master-Knot        4.9 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  !  "  he  broke  out, 
with  a  return  to  something  of  his  old 
childlike  impatience.  "  Sometimes  I 
think  it  is  all  a  dream,  and  directly  I  shall 
wake  up  and  find  myself  in  my  dingy  old 
law  office.  But  you  are  not  a  dream. 
These  mountains  are  not  a  dream. 
Lassie  barking  down  below  there  is 
not  a  dream ;  and  these  callous  spots  on 
my  hands  are  real  enough  in  all  con 
science,  and  no  dream  could  last  so 
long.  Sometimes  I  think  we  have 
been  hypnotized  and  carried  off  and 
left  on  an  island  somewhere.  Some 
times  —  do  you  remember  the  man 
who  computed  the  vast  number  of '  mys 
terious  disappearances,'  and  formed 
a  theory  that  the  earth  was  being 
sorted  out  before  the  opening  of  the 
last  vial,  or  some  such  stuff?  Do 
you  think  we  can  be  simply  another 
disappearance  ? " 


50         The  Master-Knot 

"  I  don't  know/'  she  said.  "  It 
seems  easier  to  believe  that,  easier  to 
believe  anything  than  that  the  whole 
world  has  disappeared." 

"  Then  I  think  sometimes,"  he 
went  on,  "that  there  are  evil  powers, 
—  I  know  this  sounds  as  if  I  had  lost 
my  mind,  and  maybe  I  have,  I  'm  not 
sure  of  anything,  —  but  it  seems  as  if 
there  might  be  an  explanation  if  we 
believed  in  genii  who  have  power  over 
us.  Perhaps  you  and  I,  who  so  often 
found  fault  with  the  poor  old  earth, 
are  being  punished  by  banishment 
from  it.  Perhaps  we  are  being  pre 
pared  for  some  great  work.  I  have  n't 
very  much  religion,  and  yet  I  suppose 
I  do  believe  in  a  divine  purpose  back 
of  things,  a  directing  power  that  wastes 
nothing.  I  have  tried  to  think  why 
this  thing  should  come  upon  us,  you 
and  me,  of  all  the  world ;  and  while  it 


The  Master- Knot        51 

seems  an  evil  thing,  a  terrible  and 
overwhelming  disaster,  when  I  realize 
that  it  might  have  befallen  me  alone, 
then  just  the  fact  that  you  are  here 
makes  it  seem  almost  good.  Do  you 
understand  ?" 

"Yes,"  she  said  quickly.  "I  have 
felt  just  so.  When,  at  first,  I  felt  as 
if  I  should  curse  God  and  die,  I  had 
only  to  remember  you  to  fall  on  my 
knees  for  thankfulness.  Even  if  a 
dozen  other  people  had  been  left  in 
stead,  no  one  would  have  understood  as 
you  have.  Oh,  I  would  infinitely  rather 
be  alone  with  you  than  in  the  utter 
loneliness  of  the  society  of  a  lot  of  men 
and  women  who  would  drive  me  mad 
with  their  complaints  and  inefficiency. 
I  don't  know  whether  it  is  a  dream,  or 
heaven  or  hell,  or  the  work  of  some 
black  magic ;  I  only  know  that  if  it  is 
a  punishment  it  has  been  commuted,  in 


52        The  Master-Knot 

that  you  share  it.  And  yet  how  sel 
fish  that  sounds,  as  selfish  as  love  itself. 
I  ought  to  wish  you  were  in  a  better, 
happier  place,  where  you  could  carry 
out  your  ambitions  —  "  She  stopped, 
and  her  eyes  filled. 

"  Don't  mind,"  he  said  grimly. 
"If  that  is  selfishness,  I  am  selfish  to 
the  core.  I  have  gone  over  the  whole 
list,  and  I  don't  know  any  one  I  would 
rather  sacrifice  to  companionship  with 
me  in  this  exile  than  you.  My 
parents  were  old ;  they  could  never 
have  borne  the  shock.  My  sisters 
would  be  unhappy  without  their  fami 
lies ;  my  women  friends  could  none 
of  them  have  met  the  exigencies  of 
such  an  existence  as  you  have;  and  as 
for  men,  by  this  we  would  all  have 
been  barbarians  together.  You  have 
kept  me  sane  and  alive,  for  that 


matter." 


The  Master-Knot         53 

"  But  are  we  sane  ? "  she  said  slowly, 
"  I  think  I  could  stand  it  if  I  only 
knew  we  were  sane  and  alive.  It  is 
the  feeling  that  I  don't  know  any 
thing,  that  this  valley,  these  moun 
tains,  may  fade  like  the  baseless  fabric 
of  a  dream.  And  sometimes  I  think 
that  it  may  be  real,  all  real  but  you, 
and  that  I  shall  find  myself  here  all 
alone,  dead  or  alive,  sane  or  mad. 
God  !  how  horrible  it  is  ! " 

"  That  thought  has  never  troubled 
me,"  he  said.  "  Whatever  has  put 
us  in  this  dream  together  will  keep 
us  together  to  the  end.  You  have 
not  wanted  me  to  go  far  away  from 
you,  so  we  have  worked  together; 
I  have  even  let  you  do  work  that 
was  unfit  for  you  because  I  knew 
you  would  prefer  it.  You  were  more 
frank  about  it,  but  you  did  n't  feel  any 
more  strongly  than  I  did.  I  could  n't, 


54        The  Master-Knot 

I  can't  bear  to  have  you  out  of  my 
sight." 

"  Have  you  ever  thought  that  it 
may  be  so?"  she  asked  hesitatingly. 

"  What  ?  That  it  is  n't  a  dream,  and 
that  we  are  sane  and  alive  ?  Yes,  I 
have  thought  of  that  too.  If  it  be 
true,  how  universal  is  the  destruction  ? 
We  know  now,  pretty  well,  from  the 
time  that  has  passed,  —  by  the  way, 
how  long  is  it?"  He  stopped  with  a 
sudden  dazed  look,  and  turned  to  her. 

"  It  was  the  first  of  May,"  she  said 
softly.  "  Now  it  is  nearly  the  last  of 
August." 

"  Four  months  !  '  he  said  in  a 
shocked  tone.  "  I  did  not  realize  it ; 
I  must  have  been  worse  stunned  than 
I  thought.  In  that  case  it  seems  as 
if  there  can't  be  anything  left  of  this 
continent,  unless  it  be  detached  peaks 
here  and  there,  where  other  mountain 


The  Master-Knot        55 

ranges  have  been.  There  may  be 
other  men  and  women  waiting  as  we 
wait  for  a  sail,  a  sign,  a  message,  and 
they  do  not  know  any  more  than 
we  do  whence  it  is  to  come.  The 
alteration  in  the  climate  has  convinced 
me  that  the  waters  on  our  West  are 
those  of  the  Pacific ;  it  has  been  so 
warm  and  pleasant.  I  have  tried  to 
imagine  what  kind  of  a  winter  we  may 
expect,  or  will  the  winter  of  our  dis 
content  be  made  glorious  summer  —  " 

"By  three  crops  of  strawberries, 
like  California?"  she  interrupted. 

"  Perhaps,"  he  said,  smiling.  "  As 
to  the  East,  that  may  be  the  Atlantic, 
or  the  Gulf;  it  seems  more  probable 
that  it  is  the  latter.  The  St.  Lawrence 
district  was  said  to  be  the  oldest  section 
of  this  continent,  and  it  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  the  earth's  crust  thickest 
there,  and  along  the  mountain  ranges. 


56        The  Master-Knot 

I  suppose  the  continent  has  gone  to 
make  another  layer,  a  stratum,  on  top 
of  the  pliocene,  and  after  awhile  the 
waters  will  subside,  or  some  volcanic 
action  will  raise  up  a  new  continent. 
If  there  are  any  ships  anywhere,  on 
any  seas,  they  will  search  every  degree 
of  latitude  and  longitude.  Our  flag 
floats,  did  float,  all  over  this  globe ;  if 
it  still  flies  anywhere,  we  shall  see  it 
again." 

"  If  I  did,"  she  said  irreverently,  "I 
should  feel  sure  we  were  in  heaven. 
It  was  beautiful  before,  but  what 
would  n't  it  mean  now,  Adam  ?  But 
have  you  any  one  left  on  earth;  if 
this  continent  is  all  gone,  who  would 
look  for  you?  There  are  people  of 
my  blood,  or  there  were,  but  they  did 
not  even  know  of  my  existence." 

"  There  is  not  a  soul,"  he  answered. 
"  Indeed,  in  this  country  it  would  have 


The  Master-Knot        57 

been  one  chance  in  ten  million.  You 
might  have  done  it,"  he  said,  half  jest 
ingly,  "  but  you  are  here." 

"Yes,"  she  echoed;  "I  am  here. 
Adam,  how  long  will  it  be  before 
you  are  satisfied  that  no  one  is  left,  no 
one  in  the  sense  of  any  civilized  people, 
with  a  country  and  means  of  circum 
navigation  ?" 

"  A  year,"  he  answered,  "  perhaps 
more,  but  a  year  anyhow.  I  shall 
not  give  up  hope  until  then." 


IV 

How  gladly  would  1  meet 
Mortality  my  sentence,  and  be  earth 
Insensible!     How  glad  would  lay  me  down 
As  in  my  mother  s  lap! 

MILTON. 


i 


corn  hardened,  and  the 
wheat  ripened,  and  was  har 
vested  in  truly  primeval  fash 
ion.  Adam  cut  the  wheat  with  a 
scythe,  and  Robin  followed  him,  bind 
ing  it  as  best  she  could.  They 
shocked  it  together,  and  then  began 
hauling  it  to  the  barn  with  the  horses 
and  bob-sleds,  their  only  vehicle.  The 
stacking  was  weary  work  and  pro 
gressed  slowly.  Adam  watched  his 
co-worker  toil  over  the  sheaves,  and 
then  took  them  from  her  and  pitched 
them  on  the  stack  haphazard. 

"You  shall  not  bother  over  it  any 
more,"  he  said,  "  not  if  we  live 
on  hominy  all  winter.  Have  you 
ever  been  in  Mexico  ?  Well,  Hawaii 
was  called  the  land  of  poco  tempo, 


62        The  Master-Knot 

but  Mexico  was  the  land  of  manana. 
There  is  n't  any  work  there  for  the 
work's  sake.  I  mean  there  was  n't,  and 
we  can  take  a  lesson  from  them.  We 
need  not  hurry;  the  legislature  will 
not  meet  this  winter,  and  there  will  be 
no  grand  opera  before  spring.  Daisy 
and  Lily  shall  do  our  work  for  us. 
We  will  find  a  bit  of  hard,  smooth 
ground,  and  then  we  will  not  muzzle 
the  cows  that  tread  out  the  grain." 

"  Willingly,"  gasped  Robin,  climb 
ing  down  from  her  slippery  eminence 
on  top  of  the  load  of  grain ;  "  but 
do  you  think  we  are  going  to  have 
any  winter?" 

"  That  is  pre-eminently  one  of  the 
things  that  no  fellow  can  find  out,"  he 
answered.  "  In  a  dream  you  are  likely 
to  have  any  kind  of  weather,  and  on  a 
submerged  planet  we  have  no  prece 
dents  at  hand  to  tell  us  what  to  ex- 


The  Master-Knot        63 

pect.  By  replanting  the  vegetables 
right  along  we  have  had  a  perpetual 
crop.  As  long  as  we  have  this  kind 
of  weather  things  will  grow,  aqd  I 
suppose  we  would  better  let  them. 
Shut  in  as  we  are,  it  doesn't  seem 
likely  that  any  very  fearful  winds  are 
apt  to  trouble  us ;  and  if  there  is  a 
wet  season,  on  this  slope  we  shall  have 
good  drainage.  If  the  worst  comes  to 
the  worst,  there  's  the  tunnel.  Could 
you  make  that  cheerful  and  home 
like?" 

Robin  smiled  rather  sadly.  "  It  will 
do  to  put  the  grain  in,"  she  said,  and 
they  walked  on  silently. 

The  spot  finally  selected  for  the 
threshing  floor  was  brushed  as  clean 
as  twig  brooms  would  make  it,  and 
the  wheat  spread  out  upon  it.  Adam 
and  Lassie  drove  the  cows  over  it 
leisurely,  and  between  times  Adam 


64        The  Master-Knot 

experimented  on  a  flail.  When  he 
finally  had  one  that  answered  the  pur 
pose,  and  found  he  could  use  it  with 
out  fracturing  his  skull,  the  cows  were 
released,  and  he  went  on  with  the 
work.  Seated  on  a  boulder  close  by, 
her  sombrero  tipped  well  over  her 
eyes,  Robin  fanned  the  grain,  and  con 
verted  it  into  a  coarse  cracked  wheat 
with  a  venerable  cofFee-mill. 

"  I  will  make  you  a  Mexican  mill, 
when  I  get  through  with  this,"  said 
Adam,  "but  you  cannot  use  it,  be 
cause  it  is  too  hard  work ;  I  shall 
have  to  be  the  miller.  It  is  a  rather 
simple  affair,  and  dates  from  before 
the  days  of  Noah;  it  is  made  with 
two  stones,  sandstone  preferred,  the 
lower  of  which  is  hollowed  out  bowl- 
fashion,  with  a  hole  in  the  centre ; 
the  upper  stone  is  rounding,  and  fits 
in  the  bowl,  and  has  a  hole  in  it 


The  Master-Knot        65 

about  four  inches  from  the  edge,  in 
which  a  stout  wooden  handle  is  in 
serted,  with  which  to  turn  it.  The 
two  stones  are  ground  together  until 
they  become  smooth.  Then  they  are 
placed  on  four  other  stones  as  rests, 
and  a  blanket  or  cloth  is  spread  under 
neath  to  catch  the  meal.  The  grain 
is  poured  around  the  edge  of  the 
upper  stone,  and  works  down.  It 
makes  a  very  tolerable  flour." 

"How  handy  you  are!"  she  said. 
"  Is  n't  it  a  good  thing  we  had  n't 
civilized  the  whole  world  to  such  a 
degree  that  only  patent  high-grade 
flour  was  used?  Where  should  we  be 
now  without  the  simple  devices  of  the 
good  people  of  the  Stone  Age,  and 
their  survivors  on  whom  we  looked 
down  with  so  much  scorn?" 

The  snapping  of  the  corn  was  an 
easier  matter,  and  it  was  piled  in  the 
5 


66        The  Master-Knot 

tunnel  till  they  should  be  ready  to 
shell  it.  Then  Adam  did  what  he 
called  his  "  fall  plowing,"  and  left 
the  bare  brown  sod  to  lie  fallow. 

So  far  as  possible,  they  had  retained 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  world 
that  had  left  them.  There  was  a 
tolerable  supply  of  clothing,  and  a 
good  deal  more  household  linen  than 
could  have  been  expected.  Robin 
concluded  that  the  owners  of  the  cabin 
had  not  been  long  married,  and  the 
bride,  knowing  to  what  kind  of  a 
place  she  was  coming,  had  thought 
more  of  her  house  than  of  herself. 
All  the  feminine  garments  had  to  be 
re-fashioned.  Robin  made  her  skirts 
short  enough  for  mountain  climbing, 
and  dreading  the  time  when  her  one 
pair  of  shoes  should  give  out,  she  wore 
sandals  fashioned  from  yucca  leaves  by 
Adam's  clever  fingers.  As  the  hair- 


The  Master-Knot        67 

pins  lost  themselves,  she  braided  her 
hair  in  a  long  queue,  the  curling  ends 
of  which  fell  far  below  her  waist. 

The  little  house  was  kept  as  neat 
and  clean  as  if  it  were  headquarters 
for  all  the  labor-saving  inventions  in 
the  world,  and  their  meals  were  as 
well  served  as  if  a  corps  of  servants 
had  been  in  attendance.  They  were 
simple,  and  often  a  little  monotonous, 
as  meals  must  be  where  there  is  noth 
ing  save  what  grows  on  one's  own 
plantation.  They  had  no  tea,  coffee, 
sugar,  spices,  or  foreign  fruits.  How 
ever,  the  hardship  of  manual  labor 
and  plain  food  would  cure  most  cases 
of  dyspepsia,  and  they  did  not  suffer. 

One  day  early  in  December,  Robin 
woke  to  the  consciousness  of  a  steady 
drip,  drip  of  rain,  accompanied  by  an 
indescribably  mournful  wind.  In  the 
other  room  she  heard  Adam  piling  on 


68        The  Master-Knot 

the  logs,  and  shivered.  Perhaps  the 
winter  had  come.  It  had  been  hard 
enough  when  there  was  plenty  of 
work,  and  the  free  outdoor  life ;  if 
they  should  become  prisoners,  how 
should  they,  how  would  he  endure 
it  ?  She  dressed  quickly,  and  met 
his  cheery  "  good-morning  "  in  kind, 
and  over  their  breakfast  they  discussed 
the  possibility  of  this  storm  being  the 
first  of  many.  They  decided  that  they 
must  get  the  corn  into  such  shape  that 
the  tunnel  would  be  available  for  the 
hapless  cattle,  or  even  for  themselves, 
if  need  be. 

"We  will  go  up  there  and  shell 
corn  all  day/'  said  Adam.  "It  isn't 
really  cold,  and  you  can  wrap  up  a 
bit.  I  wish  I  had  thought  to  take  a 
lot  of  stone  into  the  tunnel  to  build 
a  bin  at  the  end  to  put  the  corn  in.  I 
don't  know  how  we  are  to  manage  it." 


The  Master-Knot        69 

She  disappeared  into  the  bedroom 
and  came  back  presently  with  a  few 
grain  sacks.  When  Adam  opened  the 
door  he  was  nearly  ready  to  abandon 
his  plan. 

"  You  will  be  wet  through,"  he 
said;  "I  cannot  let  you  go." 

"  Then  you  cannot  go  either,"  she 
answered. 

"  But  I  must,"  he  said.  She  was 
standing  by  him,  hardly  reaching  his 
shoulder,  the  sacks  over  her  head. 
Catching  her  up  in  his  arms,  he  banged 
the  door  behind  them,  and  ran  up  the 
slope  to  the  tunnel,  where  he  deposited 
her  laughing,  and  shaking  the  water 
from  her  curly  hair.  As  he  had  said, 
it  was  not  cold,  and  they  sat  down 
near  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel,  turned 
the  tops  of  their  sacks  back  over  corn 
cobs,  and  shelled  the  corn  in  silence. 
At  last  a  little  sigh  from  Robin  made 


70        The  Master-Knot 

Adam  look  up  quickly.  Her  hands 
were  bleeding. 

"Robin,"  he  cried  angrily,  "how 
can  you  be  so  cruel !  I  don't  want  you 
to  do  this  work  ;  there  is  no  need.  I 
forgot  to  watch  you  ;  besides,  I  know 
you  are  tired.  You  did  not  sleep  last 
night ;  I  heard  you  moving  about." 

"Then  you  did  not  sleep  either," 
she  responded  quickly. 

He  flushed  through  the  tan,  and 
scooping  some  dry  leaves  together  into 
a  bed,  took  off  his  coat  and  folded  it 
for  a  pillow. 

"  Lie  down  and  rest  a  little  now," 
he  said,  "  while  I  go  down  to  the  house 
and  see  what  I  can  find  for  lunch. 
Then  you  can  have  a  good  sleep  this 
afternoon." 

He  was  gone  several  minutes,  and 
when  he  came  back  with  some  sand 
wiches  in  a  tin  bucket,  and  a  dozen 


The  Master-Knot        7  i 

scarlet  radishes  dripping  in  his  hand, 
he  stopped  appalled.  Robin  was  at 
the  extreme  end  of  the  tunnel,  sitting 
on  the  ground,  laughing  and  crying 
and  talking  extravagant  nonsense. 
Had  she  really  gone  mad,  at  last  ? 
Adam  put  down  the  bucket,  and 
walked  toward  her  unsteadily.  She 
did  not  stir,  but  went  on  chattering 
in  the  same  absurd  way,  until  she 
saw  him  ;  then  she  cried  excitedly, 
"  Oh,  look  !  it 's  kittens,  real  little 
tame  kittens,  though  their  mother 
won't  come  near  me  yet.  She  is 
over  in  that  corner." 

Adam  saw  her  green  eyes,  and 
though  distrustful  she  was  not  un 
friendly.  Emptying  the  bucket,  he 
ran  down  to  the  sheds,  and  came  back 
with  some  milk  which  he  poured  into 
the  top  of  the  pail,  and  set  down  be 
fore  the  kittens.  They  lapped  it 


72         The  Master-Knot 

eagerly,  and  as  the  two  human  beings 
withdrew  discreetly,  the  cat  crept  out 
of  her  corner  and  joined  in  the  feast. 
When  it  was  over,  Robin  took  posses 
sion  of  one  tiny  ball  of  fur,  and  Adam 
of  another,  while  they  made  their  own 
meal.  Then  Robin  curled  up  among 
the  dead  leaves,  and  slept  like  a  child. 

It  was  growing  dusk  when  Adam 
awoke  from  his  day-dreams.  The 
tunnel  looked  like  a  small  grain  ele 
vator.  On  one  side  Robin  still  slept, 
but  the  old  cat  was  nestled  contentedly 
at  her  feet,  and  the  kittens  were  play 
ing  sleepily  over  her. 

"  What  is  she  dreaming  ?  "  Adam 
asked  wearily.  "  All  day  I  have  sat 
here  and  dreamed  dreams  that  can 
never  come  true.  I  know  it ;  I  feel 
it.  I  told  her  a  year,  but  I  am  as  sure 
now  as  I  shall  be  in  six  years,  that 
there  is  no  hope.  The  watch-fire  is 


The  Master-Knot        73 

out  to-night,  —  the  first  night  in  eight 
months.  I  shall  re-light  it  for  her 
sake  ;  not  that  she  is  any  more  de 
ceived  than  I,  but  she  will  be  happier 
to  believe  me  still  hopeful.  What 
will  be  the  end  of  it  all  ?  How  can 
it  end  ?  " 

"  The  same  old  way/'  came  a 
sleepy  voice  from  the  leaves,  "  with 
the  'got  married  and  lived  happily 
ever  after  '  formula."  She  sat  up  and 
rubbed  her  eyes,  and  stretched  lazily, 
to  the  discomfort  of  the  kittens,  who 
retreated  hastily.  As  she  struggled  to 
her  feet  and  a  knowledge  of  her  sur 
roundings,  her  face  changed  pitifully, 
and  she  sat  down  again  and  cried 
miserably. 

"  Oh,  it  was  so  real !  "  she  sobbed. 
"  I  can  see  it  now.  We  were  back 
in  the  old  house,  in  the  library,  don't 
you  remember  it  ?  and  Walter  was  at 


74        The  Master-Knot 

the  piano,  and  Louis  had  just  asked 
me  how  to  finish  his  last  story.  Did 
I  answer  out  loud  ?  Oh,  which  is  the 
dream,  for  that  was  as  real  as  this  !  " 

Adam  stood  and  watched  her.  He 
tried  not  to  think  of  that  apropos 
answer.  He  heard  the  beating,  steady 
patter  of  the  rain,  and  the  lowing 
of  the  cows,  and  there  was  not 
even  a  star  in  heaven  to  look  at  him 
from  its  accustomed  place  with  a 
friendly,  twinkling  promise  for  the 
future.  There  was  nothing  left.  So 
far  as  he  was  concerned,  the  earth  was 
without  form  and  void.  There  was 
nothing  to  wait  or  hope  for.  There 
was  nothing  to  live  for,  neither  cheer 
ful  yesterdays  nor  confident  to-mor 
rows.  What  was  the  use  in  living  ? 
He  looked  down  at  the  slender  crea 
ture  lying  outstretched  almost  at  his 
feet,  shaken  with  the  agony  of  long- 


The  Master-Knot         75 

repressed  grief,  and  then  at  his  long, 
muscular  hands.  How  little  it  would 
take  to  end  it  all  for  both  of  them  !  A 
mist  came  over  his  eyes  and  he  stooped, 
his  hands  outstretched  toward  her  white 
throat.  They  fell  on  the  rounded 
curve  of  her  shoulder.  He  checked 
the  caress  as  he  checked  the  other  im 
pulse  and  shook  her  instead. 

"  Let  us  go  home,"  he  said. 

They  went  into  the  storm. 


Why  wilt  thou  take  a  castle  on  thy  back 

When  God  gave  but  a  pack  ? 

With  gown  of  honest  wear,  why  wilt   thou 

tease 

For  braid  and  fripperies  ? 
Learn  thou  with  flowers  to  dress,  with  birds 

to  feed, 

And  pinch  thy  large  want  to  thy  little  need. 
FREDERICK  LANGBRWGE. 


i 


next  morning  dawned 
clear  and  warm,  and  Adam, 
coming  in  with  his  milk- 
pails,  held  out  his  hand  to  Robin. 
There  were  three  ripe  strawberries. 

"See/*  he  said,  "they  are  the  har 
bingers  of  spring,  or  a  California  cli 
mate,  and  either  way  makes  our  gain. 
California  without  fogs  and  fleas  is 
heavenly  enough  for  most  people." 

Nevertheless,  they  completed  the 
shelling  of  the  corn,  and  made  a  bin 
for  it  at  the  end  of  the  tunnel,  remov 
ing  the  cat  family  to  the  house,  where 
Lassie  viewed  their  advent  with  jealous 
eyes.  One  day  when  they  had  been 
hulling  corn  for  nearly  a  week,  Adam 
sat  down  and  began  laughing.  "  Do 
you  know  how  much  corn  it  takes  to 
plant  an  acre  ?  "  he  asked. 


8o        The  Master-Knot 

"No,"  said  Robin,  blankly.  "I 
know  something  about  the  number  of 
kernels  to  the  hill, — 'one  for  the  cut 
worm,  and  one  for  the  crow,  and  one 
for  something-or-other  else,  I  forget 
what,  and  one  to  grow.'  Why  ? " 

"  It  takes  eight  quarts  to  plant  an 
acre.  We  have  raised  about  thirty 
bushels  to  the  acre,  which  is  very  well 
for  sod.  That  will  make  over  fifteen 
thousand  pounds  of  meal  and  hominy, 
and  will  feed  us  for  seven  years,  even 
if  we  eat  six  pounds  daily.  Unless 
there  is  a  winter  season,  when  we  must 
do  something  for  the  animals,  there  is 
not  the  slightest  use  in  planting  more 
than  an  acre.  As  to  the  wheat,  even 
with  a  light  yield,  there  would  be 
fifteen  hundred  pounds  to  the  acre. 
We  have  fresh  vegetables  all  the  time, 
and  there  will  be  any  quantity  of  pota 
toes  and  cabbage  and  beans." 


The  Master-Knot         81 

"  And  yet  people  starved  every 
where,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the 
farmers  were  the  worst  off  of  all." 

"  They  farmed  to  make  money,  not 
to  live,  and  they  had  no  control  over 
the  markets.  They  had  to  sell  or 
build  barns.  It  is  only  Dives  who 
can  afford  to  tear  down  the  old  ones 
and  build  greater.  It  was  easier  for 
them  to  sell  cheap  to  a  man  who  took 
their  wheat  and  held  it  until  it  could 
be  sold  back  to  them  as  dear  flour. 
They  were  eaten  up  with  mortgages 
and  pests  and  interest.  Have  you 
noticed  that  there  are  almost  no  in 
sects  here,  not  even  flies  and  mos 
quitoes  ?  They  were  never  so  bad  in 
the  mountains,  and  apparently  they 
have  been  wiped  out  with  the  rest/' 

"Truly,  Adam,"  she  said,  "speaking 
just  of  the  physical  part  of  it,  would 
you  regret  this  year?" 


82         The  Master-Knot 

He  stood  up  and  stretched  out 
his  arms,  a  splendid  type  of  man 
hood,  smooth-shaven,  with  clear-cut 
features,  bronzed,  square-shouldered, 
and  powerful. 

"Oh,  you  are  magnificent!'1  she 
cried  involuntarily.  "  It  has  done 
you  good,  great  good.  You  are  twice 
the  man  you  were  in  strength  and 
health  and  resource;  and  if  only  we 
had  been  cast  away  on  an  island, 
knowing  we  were  sure  to  be  rescued 
some  day  soon,  I  should  not  be  sorry 
at  all." 

He  colored  and  answered  frankly: 
"Without  the  mental  strain,  I  should 
not  regret  this  year.  Sometimes, 
when  I  am  sure  it  is  a  dream,  and 
that  presently  we  shall  waken,  I  can't 
help  wondering  whether  we  shall  not 
wish  we  had  fretted  less  and  enjoyed 
it  more.  When  I  come  to  think  of 


The  Master-Knot        83 

it,  I  believe  it  is  the  first  time  since  I 
was  a  child  that  ways  and  means  have 
not  troubled  me.  It  was  a  good  thing 
to  work  as  we  have,  to  keep  our  minds 
employed,  but  now  that  we  are  sure 
that  starvation  is  five  or  six  years  away, 
we  might  as  well  drop  the  old,  head 
long  rush  to  get  more  than  we  need. 
That  has  been  the  trouble  ever  since 
men  began  to  make  history.  It  was 
the  same  thing,  —  power,  conquest, 
riches,  everything;  too  much  to  eat, 
too  much  to  drink,  too  much  to 


wear  —  " 


"  Well,  you  can't  say  that  of  us," 
said  Robin  ruefully,  looking  down  at 
her  made-over  gown. 

"Well,  perhaps  not,  and  I  don't 
mean  that  there  ever  was  a  time  when 
there  was  a  general  surfeit,  but  I  mean 
that  was  the  tendency.  There  would 
have  been  plenty  for  all,  if  part  had 


84        The  Master- Knot 

not  taken  more  than  their  share ;  as 
for  the  other  part  who  had  not  enough, 
they  only  longed  for  the  opportunity  to 
simulate  their  unwise  betters.  When 
they  could,  they  took  too  much,  too,  if 
it  was  only  to  drink  and  forget  their 
misery.  We  could  have  lived  so  well 
and  so  easily,  if  we  had  lived  more 
simply,  coming  more  directly  in  con 
tact  with  nature,  as  we  have  this  year/' 

She  shook  her  head  doubtfully. 
"  This  has  not  been  real  life  at  all. 
We  have  only  kept  alive.  We  haven't 
read  anything  or  done  anything  or 
helped  any  one — " 

"  Except  each  other  and  the  ani 
mals  dependent  on  us.  On  the  whole, 
I  don't  know  but  that  we  have  accom 
plished  about  as  much  as  when  we 
were  devoting  most  of  our  attention 
to  paying  board  and  rent  bills.  We 
have  helped  each  other  more  than  we 


The  Master-Knot        85 

can  measure.  We  should  have  died 
had  we  been  left  alone  with  our 
thoughts.  All  of  life  is  not  in  cities, 
nor  even  in  books." 

She  did  not  answer  for  some  mo 
ments,  and  then  said  slowly,  "  If  it  were 
a  dream,  and  we  were  going  back  to  the 
old  life,  what  would  you  regret  most?" 

"If  we  were  going  back  to  the 
world  we  know,  I  should  regret  a 
good  many  things;  first,  I  suppose, 
that  I  did  not  realize  sooner  that  we 
must  be  going  back,  instead  of  letting 
myself  be  utterly  overwhelmed.  Then 
I  think  I  should  be  sorry  that  I  didn't 
practise,  a  la  Demosthenes,  when  I 
had  a  whole  coast  to  myself,  and  most 
of  all  I  should  regret  that  we  have  not 
kept  a  record  of  our  lives  from  day  to 
day.  There  is  other  writing  I  should 
want  to  do,  —  but  there  is  no  paper, 
and  I  don't  know  how  to  make  any." 


86        The  Master- Knot 

"There  is  plenty  of  time  to  do  all 
that  yet/'  she  said.  "  What  else  would 
you  wish  you  had  done  ? " 

He  looked  at  her,  for  there  was 
something  in  her  voice  he  did  not 
understand,  but  her  eyes  were  turned 
from  him.  "  I  should  regret  that  we 
had  not  talked  more.  Do  you  know, 
we  have  been  very  silent  ?  And  we 
used  to  have  so  many  things  to  talk 
over  in  the  old  days.  I  should  have 
twinges  of  remorse  that  I  did  not 
make  more  of  your  companionship 
when  I  had  it,  instead  of  raising  more 
corn  than  we  can  eat  in  half  a  dozen 
years,  and  letting  you  tear  your  hands 
shelling  it."  He  stooped  and  kissed  one 
of  her  slender  hands.  She  withdrew  it 
quickly  ;  there  had  never  been  even  a 
touch  of  the  sentimental  between  them. 

"  What  would  you  regret  ? "  he 
asked  suddenly. 


The  Master- Knot        87 

She  shrank  a  little,  and  her  eyes 
looked  far  away,  past  the  gateway. 
"  Some  of  the  things  you  mention ; 
very  much  that  I  had  not  encouraged 
you  more  to  go  on  with  your  work, 
but  mainly  —  " 

"Well,  mainly?" 

She  jumped  down  from  the  rock 
where  she  had  been  sitting,  and  an 
swered  evasively,  "  I  don't  think  there 
is  any  mainly,  unless  it  is  that  when  I 
had  such  a  good  chance  to  be  a  her 
mit,  I  couldn't  remember  all  those 
wonderful  Mahatma  practices  that 
make  one  so  good  and  so  wise.  The 
only  formulas  I  have  really  tried  hard 
to  recall  are  for  cooking  without  sugar, 
or  spice,  or  fruit." 


VI 


Heap  on  more  wood!  —  the  wind  is  chill; 

But  let  it  whistle  as  it  willy 

We '//  keep  our  Christmas  merry  still. 

SCOTT. 


IT    was    Christmas   Eve,    and    the 
night    being    in    a    reminiscent 
mood,    was  chillier   than  usual. 
Adam  piled  up  the  logs  till  the  whole 
room    was    full    of    the    warm    glow. 
"  Let   us  hang    up  our  stockings/'  he 
said,  with  an  attempt  at  gayety. 

Robin  spread  out  her  hands  with  a 
gesture  of  comic  distress.  "  If  only  I 
had  a  pair  to  hang!"  she  said.  "But 
they  gave  boxes  in  England,  didn't 
they?  I  noticed  that  the  rain  the 
other  day  seemed  to  have  come 
through  the  shed  roof,  and  I  fear 
the  contents  of  those  packing  cases 
may  be  the  worse  for  it,  especially 
if  they  happen  to  be  sugar.  Do  you 
think  it  would  do  to  make  ourselves 
presents  of  them?  If  you  do,  please 
give  me  the  smaller  box ;  I  am  sure 


92        The  Master-Knot 

it  has  hair-pins  and  needles  and  darning- 
cotton  in  it." 

Adam  laughed.  "We  will  give 
them  to  each  other/'  he  said,  "and 
perhaps  you'll  find  some  stockings 
in  your  box,  if  there  is  no  box  in 
your  stockings.  We  can  dream  of 
their  contents  all  night,  and  —  who 
knows  ?  —  we  may  have  a  merry 
Christmas,  after  all/' 

Robin  hardly  knew  the  place  next 
morning.  Adam  had  risen  early  and 
decked  every  available  spot  with  kinni- 
kinnick  until  the  room  fairly  glistened. 
"I  wish  I  knew  how  to  thank  him," 
she  said. 

"  Do  you  like  it  ? "  he  said,  as  he 
came  in.  "I  was  afraid  I  should 
waken  you  putting  it  up." 

"Like  it!"  she  answered,  "Why, 
Adam,  it  is  beautiful.  You  are  just 
an  ideal  Santa  Claus." 


The  Master-Knot        93 

When  they  had  finished  their  break 
fast  they  went  out  and  looked  at  the 
boxes. 

"You  must  open  yours  first/'  she 
said;  "it's  so  big  I  know  it  doesn't 
contain  anything  nice,  so  we  would 
better  save  mine  till  the  last,  and  then 
I  can  divide  with  you.  What  do  you 
think  it  is  ?  You  shall  have  three 
guesses." 

"  It  might  be  a  piano  from  its  size," 
he  ventured. 

"  No,"  she  said  decidedly.  "  It 's 
not  the  right  shape." 

"  Or  perhaps  it 's  a  feather-bed ;  I 
don't  know  of  anything  I  want  less." 

"  It's  too  large  for  that ;  now  guess, 
really." 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  expect  it  is 
mining  machinery,  which  will  be  about 
as  much  use  as  another  chimney ;  but 
here  goes  to  find  out."  He  brought 


94         The  Master-Knot 

his  hatchet  down  vigorously  between 
the  boards  at  one  end,  where  a  slight 
crevice  promised  some  leeway. 

"  Oh,  do  be  careful,"  she  cried 
"  even  if  there 's  nothing  in  it  but 
stove-polish  and  excelsior,  the  nails 
and  the  boards  are  absolute  treasures ! " 

He  proceeded  more  gently.  There 
was  any  amount  of  hoop-iron,  which 
he  removed  carefully,  and  the  nails 
were  drawn  with  as  much  caution  as 
if  they  had  been  teeth,  as  they  well 
might  be,  considering  there  were  no 
more  on  earth  to  draw.  When  the 
top  of  the  box  was  finally  off,  and  a 
quantity  of  papers  removed,  they  gave 
a  simultaneous  cry  of  delight.  The 
box  was  full  of  books.  They  took 
them  out,  one  at  a  time,  with  little 
exclamations  of  pleasure,  as  an  old 
friend  came  to  light.  Sitting  down 
on  the  ground  they  piled  the  books 


The  Master-Knot        95 

about  them  on  the  papers,  and  open 
ing  favorites  here  and  there  read  to 
each  other  and  themselves  till  long 
after  noon.  It  was  really  a  fine  li 
brary,  well  chosen,  covering  a  wide 
range  of  subjects  and  including  an 
encyclopaedia  and  an  unusually  fine 
edition  of  Shakespeare. 

"  Is  n't  it  the  most  beautiful  Christ 
mas  present  you  can  imagine,  Adam?" 
she  said.  "  If  you  are  not  suited  with 
this  it  must  be  because,  in  the  old 
slang,  you  *  want  the  earth/  ' 

"But  we  haven't  even  opened  your 
box,"  he  said. 

"  I  don't  want  to/'  she  answered 
slowly.  "  Somehow  I  feel  as  if 
we  would  better  stop  now  and  let 
well  enough  alone.  Let  us  enjoy 
this  awhile.  Perhaps  the  other  box 
may  spoil  this  one,  or  at  least  the 
day/' 


96        The  Master-Knot 


r-:--"-:---- 

HI 1    •    »»      1^  '  J 

ow  aosaru!      ne  said. 

"Let    IB   sec    what    there    is.       Y:_ 

^z-:  :_    :i:i    -.;_;-:    ~:_.i    zt    :zz± 

»  ^    _«.  f       ~f  »_          _  _  -       ^ 

nicest;  besiOjeSy  11  it  ronuiiB  sawonst 

and  bst  year's  ahnamr^  I  dball  have 

to   dhidc   with    TOO,    and    we    may 

.-_  .     cu-,1 u  - 

c         .__.7    .:_r  ±lc 

ZZZt     Z  I  .'-."    "   .". ..  t    r..t    :I  1  I  -   "  "I"Z.~- 


ittg  him  with  a  *i"^»p    unwillingiicssw 

Iz'zzn  zr-  ;_z— z.  7- T--  5nt  Vr. 
Ac   Terr    top    there   was  a 
CMC.     He   pot  it  in  Robin's 
id  SBC  opened  it    with 


~-_~_   _-*~2.       ~~T      I~Z.-"'ir.       1  —  .  1  *1  'r  Z. 

vioiiii   uuojcr  Ji0"  ffiitn    tuocd    it^ 

iiiHii    cverv 


or  earth. 

—  ~  ~    ~_  ~~     ^~~  ~^  ~~~  \*~  ~  ~~       ~~  "T     Z-.:.. 

...  _ 

z    *"  z  z  i  ~.  "r  z  i  -Z.  -  't  ~     m  ~—\^z.~  ~.~—.~  ~  -  r  "T'r-Z~ 
—  afl  the    paraphernalia  that  the 


The  Master-Knot        97 

fastidious  student  requires.  There  were 
many  note-books,  and  at  the  bottom  a 
large,  handsomely  inlaid  writing-desk. 
The  name  on  the  cover  made  him 
start  and  call  her.  She  put  down  the 
violin  reluctantly,  and  then  stooped 
and  kissed  the  vibrating  wood  with 
sudden  feeling. 

"  It  is  a  Steiner,"  she  said.  "  You 
know  the  story  of  Steiner's  violins, 
do  you  not  ?  No  ?  Some  day,  per 
haps,  I  may  tell  you.  Can  you  open 
the  desk  ?  " 

He  found  the  key  and  unlocked  it. 
There  were  some  letters,  a  few  papers 
and  memoranda,  and  a  journal.  Adam 
turned  to  the  last  page  written,  and 
read  :  — 

"  Have  just  completed  arrangements  for 
transportation  of  my  effects  to  the  moun 
tains.  Close  study  of  various  phenomena 
convinces  me  that  I  may  have  been  in  error, 

7 


98         The  Master-Knot 

and  that  the  cataclysm  is  much  closer  at 
hand  than  I  have  thought.  Within  a  few 
months  I  shall  burn  this  book,  and  con 
fess  that  I  should  be  written  down  an  ass, 
or  turn  to  it  to  prove  myself  a  prophet. 
From  the  eyrie  I  have  chosen  I  expect 
to  be  able  to  write  the  story  of  the  com 
ing  deluge.  It  will  be  of  great  value  to 
posterity  to  have  a  calm,  scientific  account, 
quite  free  from  any  tinge  of  superstition  or 
religion.  I  have  to-day  written  my  Boston 
skeptics,  forwarding  copies  of  my  calcula 
tions,  with  references  to  former  inundations, 
and  reasons  for  believing  the  Rocky  Moun 
tain  region  the  safest  at  this  time.  All 
geologists  agree  that  —  " 

Here  the  journal  terminated  abruptly. 

Robin  hardly  seemed  to  compre 
hend  its  full  significance ;  or  possibly 
she  was  not  surprised.  She  touched 
the  book  as  gently  as  if  it  were  the 
napkin  over  the  face  of  the  dead. 

"  It  is  not  to  the  wise  that  God  has 


The  Master-Knot        99 

revealed  himself/'  she  said  softly. 
"  Where  is  the  hand  that  wrote  this  ? 
You  must  finish  it,  Adam.  Here  are 
the  blank  pages  waiting  for  such  a 
chapter  as  was  never  written  on 
earth." 

But  Adam  only  looked  at  the  half- 
written  page  unseeingly.  "  It  is  all 
true,  then/'  he  muttered  to  himself; 
"  it  is  all  true."  He  walked  away  with 
a  painful  precision  of  motion,  almost 
as  if  he  were  drunk  ;  he  neither  heard 
nor  saw  anything,  yet  was  conscious  of 
everything,  and  while  he  thought  he 
had  been  hopeless  before,  he  knew 
now  that  he  had  never  given  up  hope, 
never  until  that  moment  ceased  to 
expect  a  rescue. 

Robin  took  her  violin  and  went  in 
doors.  Presently  he  heard  its  liquid 
notes  stealing  out  to  him,  like  a  power 
unknown  and  divine,  brushing  its 


ioo      The  Master-Knot 

fingers  across  his  heart,  the  harp  of  a 
thousand  strings.  She  played  for  a 
long  time,  and  when  she  ceased,  in 
some  strange  way  he  felt  that  he  was 
comforted. 


VII 

The  World  is  too  much  with  us;    late  and 

soon 
Getting  and  spending,   we  lay   waste  our 

powers ; 

Little  we  see  in  nature  that  is  ours; 
We  have  given  our  hearts  away,  a  sordid 
boon. 

Great  God!  Pd  rather  be 
A  Pagan  suckled  in  a  creed  outworn,  — 
So  might  /,  standing  on  this  pleasant  lea, 
Have  glimpses   that  would  make  me  less 

forlorn ; 

Have  sight  of  Proteus  rising  from  the  sea ; 
Or   hear   old   Triton    blow    his   wreathed 
horn. 

WORDSWORTH. 


i 


had  been  sitting  by  the 
fire  in  silence  for  a  long  time. 
Robin  had  been  sewing,  but 
the  blaze  had  sunk  too  low  to  see  by 
it,  and  her  hands  were  folded  idly 
upon  her  mending.  She  put  it  by, 
and  went  to  the  window.  It  was  a 
very  dark  night,  and  the  stars  shone 
brilliantly.  The  stars  had  come  to 
mean  a  great  deal  to  them  both,  how- 
beit  neither  had  ever  said  so.  The 
stars  only  were  unchanged.  "  The 
thoughts  of  God  in  the  heavens  "  were 
the  same,  whatever  might  be  His 
thought  on  earth. 

She  sighed  so  heavily,  that  Adam 
asked  quickly,  "What  is  it?"  and  she 
answered,  with  a  nervous  laugh,  "  I 
was  thinking  of  the  old  legend,  that 


104      The  Master- Knot 

the  souls  on  other  planets  call  ours  *  the 
sorrowful  world/  What  made  it  so 
sorrowful,  Adam  ? " 

"  Ignorance  would  cover  it  all/'  he 
answered,  "  but  to  be  specific,  intem 
perance,  sensuality,  avarice,  and  poverty. 
I  don't  mean  drunkenness  only,  when 
I  say  intemperance.  I  have  known  a 
few  prohibitionists  in  my  time  who 
were  as  intemperate  in  their  eating  as 
any  one  could  be  in  the  matter  of 
drink.  I  think  intemperance  in  its 
widest  sense  was  the  great  curse  of  our 
time  anyway;  drink  and  tobacco  and 
tea  and  coffee ;  and  as  to  our  eating, 
there  was  too  much,  of  almost  every 
thing  on  earth  that  was  not  food,  but 
which  could  be  over-salted  and  over- 
peppered,  and  treated  with  tabasco 
sauce.  We  over-stimulated  every  ac-  * 
tivity  of  the  body,  and  spent  our  lives 
doing  all  kinds  of  things  in  which 


The  Master- Knot      105 

there  was  no  sense.  Think  of  reading 
one  or  two  morning  and  evening 
papers  every  day.  To  be  sure  we  said 
there  was  nothing  in  them,  but  we 
used  up  our  eyesight  over  them,  and 
let  a  stream  of  silliness  and  scandal 
dribble  through  our  minds.  As  to  the 
things  we  wore  —  " 

Robin  laughed.  "  I  know,"  she 
said.  "The  sewing-machine  didn't 
save  work ;  it  only  made  ruffles.  A 
dressmaker  once  said  to  me,  *  It 's  a 
good  thing  for  me  that  these  women 
have  n't  sense  enough  to  spend  their 
time  and  money  on  themselves,  in 
making  their  bodies  free  and  strong 
and  beautiful.  But  no ;  they  would 
rather  have  a  stylish  dress  than  a 
graceful  body.  They  don't  care  to  be 
beautiful  themselves ;  all  they  want 
is  a  handsome  gown  to  cover  their 
ugliness/  Is  n't  it  strange  that  we 


io6      The  Master-Knot 

never  seemed  able  to  realize  that  the 
Greek  fashions  were  immortal  because 
they  were  beautiful?" 

"Still,  I  don't  think  the  dress  of  the 
Greek  women  would  be  very  convenient 
for  housework/'  ventured  Adam. 

Robin  shook  her  head.  "  You  only 
say  that  because  some  woman  has  said 
it  to  you.  The  Diana  of  the  Stag 
wore  the  first  rainy-day  gown.  The 
Greek  dress  was  capable  of  ever  so 
many  modifications.  If  I  were  mak 
ing  a  handbook  of  proverbs  for 
women,  I  should  say,  '  A  good  com 
plexion  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than 
many  fine  dresses,  and  glossy  and  abun 
dant  hair  turneth  away  wrath.'  I  be 
lieve  in  the  simplification  of  life.  I 
understand  just  how  Thoreau  felt  when 
he  threw  out  that  specimen  because 
it  had  to  be  dusted  daily.  There 
are  very  few  things  beautiful  enough 


The  Master-Knot      107 

to  pay  for  that  amount  of  trouble. 
But  perhaps  that  is  because  I  don't 
care  for  specimens,  and  I  loathe 
dusting/' 

"You  ought  to  have  been  a  Jap/' 
said  Adam.  "  There  was  one  in  col 
lege,  in  my  class,  and  one  day  when  I 
was  fretting  over  something  I  could 
not  afford  he  said,  in  that  immensely 
polite  way  of  theirs,  *  You  I  cannot  un 
derstand.  With  all  American  people 
it  so  is,  even  as  by  Ruskin  said  was  it ; 
whatever  you  have,  of  it  you  more 
would  get,  and  where  you  are,  you 
would  go  from.  You  happy  are  only 
when  something  you  get,  and  never 
that  you  yourself  are.'  But  I  think 
the  Celestial  was  wrong  there.  When 
a  man  is  self-conscious  of  illy-made 
garments,  a  mean  domicile,  a  poor 
kind  of  half  education,  he  is  uncom 
fortable;  he  hasn't  accomplished  his 


io8      The  Master-Knot 

evolution  from  the  conscious,  the  self- 
conscious,  to  the  unconscious.  It  was 
this  very  discomfort  and  inequality 
that  used  so  to  enrage  me,  for  it  need 
not  have  been." 

"  I  wish,"  said  Robin,  "  we  knew 
how  to  make  paper;  of  all  the  fasci 
nating  things  in  Bellamy's  '  Equality/ 
there  was  nothing  I  liked  so  well  as 
the  idea  of  paper  garments,  to  be 
burned  when  one  got  through  with 
them.  Think  of  never  having  any 
washing  and  ironing,  and  always  hav 
ing  new  clothes." 

"  I  wonder  whether  we  could  invent 
some  of  those  things  over  again,"  said 
Adam,  reflectively. 

"  I  could  n't  spare  you  any  of  my 
precious  rags,  if  you  could,"  said  Robin. 

"  Most  of  the  paper  was  made  out 
of  wood,  anyhow,"  answered  Adam, 
"  and  the  ash  that  grows  here  in  any 


The  Master-Knot      109 

quantity    was    considered    particularly 
fine  for  that  purpose." 

" '  God  made  man  upright,  but  he 
hath  sought  out  many  inventions/ ' 
quoted  Robin,  "and  now  we  are  going 
to  seek  them  over  again.  I  can't 
imagine  how  anyone  could  ever  make 
a  lineotype,  but  the  type  and  the  hand- 
press  are  easy  enough,  and  if  you  can 
make  paper,  we  may  yet  live  to  read 
our  *  published  works.'  You  probably 
do  not  know  that  I  used  to  have  a 
Wegg-like  facility  for  dropping  into 
poetry." 

"  Did  you  ?  That  is  another  of  the 
things  you  never  told  me;  but  your 
speaking  of  Thoreau,"  answered  Adam, 
"  recalls  what  he  said  of  the  amount 
of  work  necessary  to  sustain  life  beside 
Walden  Pond.  It  took  six  weeks  out 
of  the  year,  and  that  was  in  a  most 
forbidding  country.  In  such  a  valley 


no      The  Master-Knot 

as  this  two  months  ought  to  be  suffi 
cient  to  more  than  feed  and  clothe  us; 
but  then  he  did  n't  have  to  make  his 
own  clothing." 

"  And  out  of  nothing  particular," 
interrupted  Robin. 

Adam  laughed  and  went  on.  "Did 
you  ever  hear  of  a  man  called  Hertzka? 
He  was  an  eminent  Austrian  sociolo 
gist,  and  he  figured  it  out,  that  if 
five  million  men  should  work  a  little 
less  than  an  hour  and  three  quarters 
a  day  they  could  produce  all  the 
necessities  of  life  for  the  twenty-two 
million  people  of  Austria.  By  work 
ing  two  hours  and  twelve  minutes 
daily  for  two  months  beside,  they  could 
have  all  the  luxuries  also.  And  that 
not  for  a  few,  not  for  the  Court  and 
the  nobility,  but  for  all.  There 
could  have  been  music  and  pictures 
and  books  and  theatres,  and  sufficient 


The  Master-Knot      1 1 1 

food  and  clothing.  Isn't  it  strange 
that  when  we  might  have  been  so 
happy  we  preferred  to  be  so  wretched  ? 
For  even  if  we  had  all  we  wanted  our 
selves,  we  could  not  escape  the  sights 
and  sounds  that  told  of  abject  misery." 

"It was  always  so,"  Robin  answered 
moodily.  "  The  poor  we  had  always 
with  us.  History  always  repeated 
itself." 

"  Still,  it  did  n't  exactly  repeat  it 
self,"  Adam  said.  "Our  dark  age 
would  have  done  for  a  golden  age  in 
the  past.  Greece  was  glorious  for  a 
little  while,  but  her  literature  tells  us 
of  her  ideals.  The  isles  of  Greece, 
where  Byron  contracted  his  last  illness, 
would  have  left  him  to  die  among  the 
rocks  twenty-five  hundred  years  earlier, 
because  he  had  a  lame  foot.  We  at 
least  were  kinder  to  animals,  and  that 
means  a  great  deal." 


ii2      The  Master-Knot 

"  I  don't  know,"  she  answered. 
"  Perhaps  ;  it  seems  to  me  I  have  read 
of  a  hospital  for  sick  animals  on  the 
island  of  Ceylon  a  long  sometime  B.  C. 
Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu  —  or  was 
it  Lady  Hester  Stanhope  ?  —  said  she 
had  traveled  all  over  the  world,  and  had 
never  found  but  two  kinds  of  people,  — 
men  and  women.  I  fancy  the  same 
thing  is  true  of  all  the  ages  as  well  as 
all  the  countries." 

"No,"  Adam  said,  shaking  his  head; 
"  our  ideals  change.  The  scheme  of 
life  laid  down  by  Christ  was  to  the 
Greeks  foolishness  and  to  the  Jews  a 
stumbling-block,  and  there  were  plenty 
of  Greeks  and  Jews  in  our  day.  By 
Greeks  I  mean  people  whose  ideals 
were  purely  intellectual,  and  by  Jews 
those  who  saw  no  good  save  a  mate 
rial  good,  no  God  but  the  God  of 
Mammon.  They  would  not  hear 


The  Master-Knot      113 

either  Moses  or  the  prophets,  and  the 
statute  of  limitations  was  as  near  as 
they  could  come  to  the  Sabbatic  year. 
The  Greek  and  the  Jew  have  stood 
ready  with  their  cup  of  hemlock,  their 
crown  of  thorns  for  every  Christ-spirit 
that  has  ever  come  to  earth.  Yet 
more  people  read  Socrates,  and  believed 
on  the  Nazarene  every  year.  I  don't 
mean  in  the  church ;  the  working-man 
did  not  go  to  church,  but  he  uncovered 
his  head  at  the  name  of  Christ,  the 
first  lawgiver  who  confounded  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  ate  with 
publicans  and  sinners." 

"  But  Moses  was  the  first  lawgiver 
to  forbid  taking  the  nether  millstone 
as  a  pledge/'  objected  Robin. 

"  True,"  he  admitted,  "  and  the 
laws  of  Moses  would  have  made  the 
world  over.  He  was  the  greatest 
writer  on  political  economy  this  earth 


ii4      The  Master-Knot 

has  ever  seen.  His  absolute  fiat 
against  the  alienation  of  the  land 
would  have  done  more  for  the  com 
mon  people  than  all  Adam  Smith's 
theories  of  free  competition,  and 
Fourier's  dream  of  a  perfected  com 
munism.  But  who  would  have 
known  of  Moses,  save  for  Christ  ? 
The  Old  Testament  would  have  been 
merely  the  sacred  book  of  the 
Hebrews,  and  save  as  a  literary  and 
historic  work,  of  very  uncertain  his 
toric  value,  would  have  been  unread, 
as  the  Koran  and  other  books  of  a 
similar  nature  were  unread." 

"  And  yet  you  do  not  believe  in  the 
divinity  of  Christ,"  she  said  slowly. 

"  No,"  he  answered.  "  Is  that  nec 
essary  before  one  can  believe  in  his 
teachings  ?  The  truth  is  always  divine. 
What  difference  does  it  make  whether 
the  one  who  utters  it  be  human  or 


The  Master- Knot      115 

divine,  bond  or  slave,  ^Esop  or 
Marcus  Aurelius?  the  truth  remains 
the  same.  A  fable  is  only  another 
name  of  a  parable.  We  have  the 
story  of  the  lost  sheep ;  that's  a  para 
ble  ;  and  that  of  the  lamb  that  mud 
died  the  stream,  and  that 's  a  fable. 
One  is  sacred,  the  other  profane,  but 
both  are  fables,  both  parables.  When 
you  take  them  away  from  the  context 
it  is  as  easy  to  feel  for  the  lamb  eaten 
by  the  wolf,  as  for  the  one  that  was 
rescued,  and  has  been  immortalized  in 
picture  and  song." 

"  Probably  you  are  right,"  she  said. 
"  I  never  thought  of  it  in  just  that 
way  before,"  and  saying  "  good  night  " 
she  went  to  her  room. 

Adam  thought  he  heard  her  hum 
ming,  "  Away  on  the  mountains  cold 
and  bare." 


VIII 

When  we  mean  to  build 
We  first    survey    the  plot,    then   draw    the 

model, 

And,  then  we  see  the  figure  of  the  house, 
Then  must  we  rate  the  cost  of  the  erection. 

SHAKSPERE. 


i 


discovery  of  the  incom 
plete  journal  made  a  subtle 
change  in  Adam.  He  had 
been  silent  and  self-absorbed  from  the 
first,  but  he  had  never  quite  given  up 
hope.  Even  now,  Robin  sought  to 
keep  up  the  pretence,  and  dreading 
the  despair  which  she  saw  creeping 
over  Adam,  she  began  artfully  to 
seek  some  means  of  interesting  him 
in  something  else.  The  question  of 
a  proper  place  for  the  books  gave  her 
an  opportunity,  and  Adam  suggested 
that  he  build  an  addition  to  the 
house. 

They  planned  it  as  eagerly  as  if  it 
was  to  be  a  castle,  and  spent  days  in 
looking  for  adobe,  but  finally  decided 
that  logs  would  be  better,  and  Adam's 


120      The  Master-Knot 

ax  could  have  been  heard  ringing  from 
morning  till  night.  A  log  house  is 
not  exactly  a  work  of  art,  but  it  re 
quires  no  little  skill  to  build  one,  and 
takes  a  good  deal  of  time  when  the 
logs  for  the  floor  must  be  planed  and 
squared,  so  as  to  make  a  matched 
board  floor.  Sometimes  Robin  went 
with  Adam,  and  worked  or  read ; 
sometimes  she  took  him  his  luncheon 
at  noon,  for  the  trees  were  at  some 
little  distance  from  the  house.  The 
logs  had  to  be  "  snaked "  across  the 
rough  ground  and  down  the  moun 
tain,  and  when  the  floor  had  been 
laid,  and  the  location  of  the  window 
decided  upon,  Robin  planted  morning- 
glory  seeds  where  it  was  to  be.  By 
dint  of  much  pushing  and  hauling  the 
logs  were  finally  put  in  place,  and  the 
roof  battened  down.  The  window 
was  truly  worthy  of  a  mediaeval  castle, 


The  Master-Knot       121 

for  it  was  simply  an  oblong  hole,  boxed 
in  with  a  casement  made  from  some 
scraps  of  boards,  while  a  slab  shutter, 
swung  on  leather  hinges,  shut  out  the 
elements. 

The  chinking  was  a  simple  matter, 
and  when  it  was  all  done,  including  a 
doorway  into  the  main  room,  Robin 
was  unfeignedly  delighted.  They 
made  rows  of  shelves  with  the  pack 
ing-cases,  and  arranged  the  books 
thereon.  It  was  not  an  extensive  li 
brary,  but  it  occupied  one  side  of  the 
room,  and  was  a  godsend  to  them. 
Under  the  window  Robin  placed  the 
green  covered  desk,  and  placed  on  it 
Adam's  writing  materials.  Along  the 
inside  wall  Adam  built  a  bunk,  after  the 
fashion  in  miners'  cabins,  and  with  a 
mattress  stuffed  with  the  soft  inner 
cornhusk,  and  a  pillow  from  the  other 
room,  and  blankets  from  the  one  tiny 


122      The  Master-Knot 

closet,  the  couch  looked  sufficiently 
inviting.  On  the  floor  Robin  spread 
mats  made  from  plaited  cornhusk,  and 
in  the  doorway  hung  a  portiere,  woven 
from  the  same  material  on  a  loom 
that  a  Navajo  might  not  have  utterly 
despised. 

Adam's  scanty  wardrobe  was  trans 
ferred  to  pegs  in  one  corner  of  the 
room,  one  or  two  stools  were  set  first 
here,  then  there,  until  Robin  was  sure 
the  best  effect  had  been  secured,  and 
when  all  was  done  that  they  could 
accomplish  with  the  means  at  hand, 
and  the  morning-glory  blossoms  came 
peeping  in  at  the  window,  the  room 
was  by  no  means  unattractive. 

Then  Robin's  housewifely  soul  took 
refuge  in  house-cleaning,  and  she 
scrubbed  and  arranged  and  re-arranged, 
while  Adam  repaired  or  invented  fur 
niture,  until  inside  and  out  their  little 


The  Master-Knot      123 

domain  was  as  perfect  as  they  could 
make  it. 

Between  them  there  had  again  fallen 
one  of  those  long  silences  they  dreaded, 
but  seemed  powerless  to  prevent.  As 
the  voice  of  the  turtledove  was  lifted 
in  the  plaintive  notes  of  nesting  time, 
Adam  harrowed  three  acres  of  the 
plowed  land  and  planted  it  in  wheat 
and  corn.  The  perennial  garden  was 
flourishing,  and  there  was  nothing  to 
do.  Adam  said  so  one  day,  with  an 
air  of  calm  finality. 

Robin  regarded  him  uneasily.  The 
time  had  not  yet  come  when  he  could 
sit  down  and  write,  though  she  had 
brewed  an  excellent  ink,  and  the  paper 
waited  on  the  desk  in  his  room.  She 
considered  for  a  moment,  then  said 
brightly,  "Don't  you  remember  what 
Myron  used  to  say  ?  How  when  his 
friends  got  rich  they  first  built  a  beau- 


124      The  Master-Knot 

tiful  house,  and  then  went  abroad  for 
three  years  ?  Let  us  go  traveling  ; 
wouldn't  you  like  it?" 

The  alacrity  with  which  he  acqui 
esced  proved  how  well  he  liked  it, 
and  he  started  out  at  once  to  get 
the  burros,  and  make  ready  for  the 
expedition. 

Robin  baked  and  prepared  as  well 
as  she  could. 

"  It's  a  good  thing  I  had  a  Southern 
grandmother/'  she  soliloquized,  as  she 
put  her  beaten  biscuit  in  the  Dutch 
oven  and  pulled  the  coals  over  it. 
"And  it's  a  good  thing  my  mother 
crossed  the  plains  and  learned  how  to 
make  biscuit  in  the  mouth  of  her  flour 
sack,  and,"  as  she  rolled  out  some 
crackers,  "  it  is  a  blessed  good  thing  I 
went  to  cooking-school,  but  I  wish 
that,  instead  of  being  so  particular 
about  the  knobs  on  the  candlesticks, 


The  Master-Knot      125 

the  Pentateuch  had  given  Sarah's 
recipe  for  making  cakes  with  honey. 
Not  that  I  have  any  honey,  but  I  am 
sure  we  shall  find  some  on  this  trip." 

When  they  were  all  ready,  and  the 
burros  stood  waiting  at  the  door,  with 
Lassie  jumping  wildly  about  them, 
Adam  wrote  a  placard  which  he  stuck 
in  the  framework  of  the  door.  The 
stock  had  been  turned  loose  on  the 
mountain-side,  and  the  house  and 
stables  secured  as  well  as  possible 
against  any  storms  that  might  arise. 
The  kittens  had  possession  of  one  of 
the  sheds.  The  puppies  were  to  ac 
company  them. 

Robin  had  put  on  her  long  unused 
shoes,  and  a  new  gown  that  she  had 
made  out  of  a  dark  blue  serge 
found  hanging  in  her  room.  Adam 
looked  at  her  approvingly  from  under 
his  wide  sombrero.  She  turned  back, 


126      The  Master- Knot 

after  going  a  few  paces,  and  read  the 
card. 


WAIT! 

APRIL  5th. 

Back  in  two  weeks. 
Look  for  smoke. 


As  she  passed  into  the  canon  that 
hid  their  home  from  sight,  Adam  saw 
her  brush  her  hand  across  her  eyes. 


IX 

I  pity  the  man  who  can  travel  from  Dan 
to  Eeersheba  and  cry,  "'Tis  all  barren." 

STERNE. 


traveled  a  due  west 
course,  crossing  the  two 
ranges,  wending  their  way 
through  dim  defiles  and  along  pre 
cipitous  canons,  until  they  saw  the 
sea.  Here  its  mood  was  summer-like. 
Even  in  the  short  time  that  had  elapsed 
it  had  worn  itself  a  broad,  smooth 
beach,  and  wide  tracts  of  land  be 
tween  the  sand  and  the  base  of  the 
mountains  proved  that  the  earth  had 
been  thrown  up,  or  that  the  water  had 
receded.  They  had  not  looked  upon 
the  ocean  before  for  many  months. 

They  picketed  the  burros  on  the 
rank,  salt  grass,  and  built  their  camp- 
fire  early,  and  while  Robin  set  the 
potatoes  baking,  and  began  her  supper 
preparations,  Adam  went  scouting  along 


130      The  Master-Knot 

the  coast.  In  less  than  half  an  hour 
he  came  back  with  a  quantity  of  clams 
which  he  threw  down  before  her  as 
proudly  as  if  they  had  been  foreign 
battle-flags.  She  gave  a  little  femi 
nine  shriek  of  delight. 

"Now  I  know  why  we  brought 
that  inconvenient  iron  pot/'  she  said ; 
"  bring  it  here,  please/' 

Adam  brought  it,  and  watched  her 
slice  up  onions  and  potatoes  and  stir 
in  the  various  ingredients. 

"  It  is  going  to  be  the  best  chow 
der  you  ever  tasted/'  she  said,  "  even 
if  we  haven't  any  bacon.  When  you 
write  the  veracious  tale  of  our  adven 
tures,  Adam,  don't  put  in  how  many 
things  we  ate." 

"  They  might  think  it  a  voracious 
tale  if  I  did/'  he  answered,  dropping 
some  more  butter  into  his  mealy  po 
tato.  "Do  you  remember  how  the 


The  Master-Knot      131 

Swiss  Family  were  always  worrying 
for  fear  they  wouldn't  have  enough 
to  eat  ?  " 

"  Yes,  and  how  they  went  out  and 
killed  an  elephant  for  breakfast,  and  a 
herd  of  wild  pigs  for  dinner,  and  had 
a  buffalo  apiece  for  supper.  And  don't 
you  remember  how,  when  the  boa  con 
strictor  killed  one  of  their  zebras,  little 
Fritz  asked  pathetically  if  boas  were 
good  to  eat  ?  " 

They  laughed  over  their  supper,  and 
then  having  made  sure  that  they  were 
out  of  reach  of  the  tide,  and  the  fire 
would  keep,  and  the  rifle  was  close 
at  Adam's  elbow,  they  spread  their 
blankets  and  said  "  good  night."  It 
had  been  an  exciting  day. 

It  was  past  midnight,  and  the  moon 
was  waning  when  Adam  was  wakened 
by  Lassie's  cold  muzzle  against  his 
face.  He  sat  up  and  called  to  Robin. 


132      The  Master-Knot 

There  was  no  answer,  and  her  blankets 
lay  tossed  on  the  other  side  of  the  fire. 
He  started  up  and  listened.  At  first 
he  heard  only  the  sound  of  the  sea; 
then  there  came  mingled  with  it  the 
clear  notes  of  her  glorious  voice. 
Holding  Lassie  in  check  he  went 
down  to  the  beach. 

Robin  stood  well  out  on  the  shim 
mering  sand,  the  waves  lapping  softly 
almost  at  her  feet,  and  he  heard  the 
plaintive  music,  and  caught  the 
words,  — 

"  Oh,  for  the  wings,  for  the  wings  of  a  dove, 
Far  away,  far  away,  would  I  fly,  and  be,  and  be 
at  rest." 

Her  voice  quivered  when  she  came  to 
the  words,  "  In  the  wilderness  build 
me  a  nest,"  but  she  sang  on,  and 
Adam  recalled  the  words  of  hymn 
after  hymn,  anthem  after  anthem,  for 


The  Master-Knot      133 

she  sang  nothing  else.  He  heard  the 
bitter  cry  of  the  De  Profundis,  Han 
del's  triumphant  "  I  know  that  my 
Redeemer  liveth,"  and  then  she  began, 
"  He  watching  over  Israel  slumbers 
not  nor  sleeps." 

His  eyes  filled,  and  he  saw  the  tents 
of  his  regiment.  She  had  written  by 
every  mail,  and  across  her  letters,  at 
the  top  or  bottom,  she  had  put  those 
five  bars  from  "Elijah/'  Though  he 
did  not  believe  it,  for  he  had  not  the 
early  Hebrew  ability  to  see  Israel  in  his 
own  race,  and  the  to  be  spoiled  Philis 
tine  in  every  Filipino,  it  had  comforted 
him  in  that  sickening  campaign. 
Surely,  surely  if  he,  an  American 
"non-com,"  had  spared  a  Filipino  now 
and  then,  He  watching  over  Israel  had 
not  been  less  merciful. 

Her  voice  died  away ;  it  was  the 
first  time  she  had  sung  that  year. 


134      The  Master-Knot 

though  she  was  a  very  perfectly  trained 
musician.  Indeed  in  the  old  days, 
Adam  had  first  sought  her  acquaintance 
because  of  her  music. 

Adam  returned  to  the  camp ;  he 
knew  instinctively  that  she  preferred  to 
keep  this  to  herself.  He  was  lying 
quite  still  when  she  came  back,  and 
controlled  every  muscle  when  she  bent 
over  him.  She  regarded  him  intently 
for  a  moment,  then  went  to  her 
blankets  with  a  heavy  sigh  that  Adam 
knew  was  for  him.  She  had  sung  out 
her  own  sorrows. 

Their  vigils  seemed  to  do  them 
both  good,  for  they  shook  off  their 
melancholy  tendencies,  and  before  the 
end  of  the  first  week  their  tour  was 
beginning  to  be  thoroughly  enjoyable. 
They  did  not  find  cocoanuts  and 
bananas,  but  they  did  find  plenty  of 
strawberries,  and  long,  prickly  vines 


The  Master-Knot      135 

that  would  be  covered  with  raspberries, 
and  wild  grapes  and  choke-cherries  and 
currants,  which  they  planned  to  trans 
plant,  for  though  the  Western  coast  was 
more  beautiful,  and  in  some  respects 
more  convenient  than  their  hedged 
in  valley,  they  preferred  the  valley. 
Already  it  had  come  to  mean  home. 
They  traveled  about  fifty  miles 
southward,  to  the  end  of  the  island, 
making  desultory  trips  up  into  the 
mountains  to  see  if  anywhere,  on  land 
or  sea,  there  was  a  friendly  wreath  of 
smoke,  and  every  night  their  watchfire 
glowed  from  the  highest  peak  in  their 
vicinity.  The  island  narrowed  to  a 
single  range,  detached  peaks  rising 
here  and  there  from  the  sea.  As 
they  rounded  the  southernmost  point, 
Adam  said,  "We  ought  to  name  it; 
that  remarkable  Swiss  family  always 
named  places/' 


136      The  Master-Knot 

Robin  looked  at  the  bare,  stone  walls 
rising  sheer  above  the  waves  three  hun 
dred  feet,  and  her  lip  curled. 

"  Let  us  call  it  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,"  she  said. 

"In  the  name  of  wonder,  why?" 
asked  Adam,  and  she  answered,  "Be 
cause  we  are  past  it,"  and  then  would 
have  given  anything  to  have  recalled 
the  bitter  words. 

The  Eastern  coast  was  wilder  and 
more  picturesque,  but  the  traveling 
was  correspondingly  slower.  Some 
thing  in  the  formation  of  the  coast 
caused  a  terrific  surf,  and  at  many 
places  there  was  scarcely  any  beach, 
and  they  found  themselves  compelled 
to  climb  along  trails  that  made  even 
the  burros  dizzy. 

When  they  had  been  absent  ten  days, 
Robin  said,  "  I  begin  to  feel  like  a 
grandmother  ;  no,  I  don't  mean  that 


The  Master-Knot      137 

I  feel  so  old,  but  that  I  begin  to  long 
to  see  the  chicken  and  cat-children, 
and  the  new  calf,  and  —  everything." 

Adam  laughed,  "  I  have  been  think 
ing  we  ought  to  hurry ;  that  place  of 
ours  is  growing  so  entrancingly  lovely 
in  memory  that  last  night  I  dreamt 
that  I  dwelt  in  marble  halls !  " 

They  were  not  to  reach  home  with 
out  at  least  one  adventure,  however. 
A  day  or  so  later,  as  they  toiled  up  a 
painfully  steep  ascent,  Lassie  sounded 
the  note  of  alarm,  and  catching  up  the 
rifle,  Adam  ran  ahead.  As  he  rounded 
a  point  in  the  rocks,  he  came  upon 
a  Rocky  Mountain  goat  engaged  in 
combat  with  a  cinnamon  bear.  The 
bear  was  hardly  more  than  a  cub,  and 
was  carrying  off  one  of  the  kids.  The 
goat,  horns  down,  was  fighting  viciously, 
though  weak  from  loss  of  blood. 

It    would    be    interesting   to    know 


138      The  Master-Knot 

what  one  wild  animal  thinks  when 
another  wild  animal,  from  its  point  of 
view,  comes  to  the  rescue.  Adam 
carried  a  lariat  over  one  arm.  In 
an  instant  it  flew  through  the  air, 
dropping  over  Bruin's  shoulders.  He 
released  the  kid,  and  tumbled  backward 
over  the  cliff,  as  much  with  surprise 
as  by  the  force  of  the  jerk  on  the 
rope,  taking  that  treasured  article  with 
him. 

It  took  some  time  to  capture 
the  wounded  animals,  bind  up  their 
hurts,  and  get  them  down  the  path 
way  leading  to  the  beach.  For  there 
was  a  beach,  the  best  one  they  had 
found  on  the  Eastern  coast,  and  as 
they  put  the  goat  and  her  kids  down 
in  the  grass,  Adam  said  tentatively, 
"  If  you  are  not  afraid,  I  can  go  home 
and  get  the  horses  and  the  sleds.  It 
isn't  a  great  way,  and  I  believe  I  can 


The  Master-Knot      139 

be  back  in  three  hours, — I  'm  sure  I 
can  if  the  beach  goes  as  close  to  our 
park  as  I  think." 

Robin  acquiesced,  and  as  soon  as 
he  was  gone  began  gathering  drift 
wood.  When  she  had  quite  a  little 
heap  she  made  a  fire  with  the  coals 
they  carried  in  the  pot.  It  is  doubt 
less  more  romantic  to  build  a  fire  by 
striking  flint  rocks  together,  but  a  pot 
of  coals  has  its  uses  in  a  matchless  uni 
verse.  Then  she  found  a  long,  stout 
club,  and  put  one  end  in  the  fire, 
where  it  smouldered  sullenly. 

"There  now/'  she  said  conclusively, 
"if  my  bear  acquaintance  calls,  I  will 
present  him  with  'the  red  flower.'  I 
didn't  learn  the  *  Jungle  Books '  by 
heart  for  nothing." 

Meanwhile  Adam  was  striding  over 
the  beach  at  a  rate  that  brought  him 
to  the  little  cove  and  the  high  wall  of 


140      The  Master-Knot 

rocks  that  shut  them  in  on  the  south 
in  a  little  over  an  hour.  Two  of  the 
pups  had  gone  with  him,  and  they 
raced  on  ahead,  as  he  came  in  sight 
of  the  house.  Everything  seemed  to 
have  an  air  of  welcome,  and  the  horses 
whinnied  joyfully  when  he  called  them 
from  the  gateway. 

The  pathetic  placard  was  still  there, 
and  he  crumpled  it  in  his  hand,  and 
went  in  and  opened  the  windows.  He 
milked  one  of  the  cows,  and  gathering 
some  green  stuff  in  the  garden  started 
back  with  the  team  and  the  sleds. 
Once  down  the  steep  decline,  and  over 
the  rocks  at  the  south,  they  went  on 
rapidly. 

Although  he  had  wasted  no  time,  it 
was  past  one  o'clock  when  he  saw  her 
familiar  figure  afar  off.  She  hurried 
to  meet  him.  They  had  not  been 
separated  so  long  before  that  year,  and 


The  Master-Knot      141 

realized  the  unconscious  strain  in  the 
sudden  revulsion.  They  said  nothing 
of  this,  however,  though  they  clasped 
hands  for  a  moment.  Then  Robin 
spoke  to  the  horses,  and  stroked  their 
necks,  as  they  bent  their  heads  and 
rubbed  against  her  affectionately. 

She  had  spread  their  table  on  a 
broad,  flat  rock,  but  before  they  had 
their  own  meal,  she  warmed  some  of 
the  milk,  and  they  gave  the  kids  their 
first  lesson  in  drinking  out  of  a  bucket. 
Afterward  it  took  but  a  few  moments 
to  strike  camp.  The  burros  were  al 
ready  packed,  and  the  goat  with  her 
kids,  all  hobbled,  were  placed  in  the 
sled,  and  the  cavalcade  started  on  its 
way. 


Cling  to  thy  home!     If  there   the   meanest 

shed 

Yield  thee  a  hearth  and  a  shelter  for  thy  head, 
And  some  poor  plot,  with  vegetables  stored, 
Be  all  that  Heaven  allots  thee  for  thy  board, 
Unsavory    bread,   and   herbs    that    scattered 

grow 

Wild  on  the  river-brink,  or  mountain-brow ; 
Tet  e  en  this  cheerless  mansion  shall  provide 
More  heart's  repose  than  all  the  world  beside. 

LEON  ID  AS. 


"  1     "^  ^   you  know,  Adam,"  said 
ij         •    Robin,     when    they    had 
M     J    walked  a  mile  in  silence, 
"do  you  know  that  you  are  a  fraud ?" 
"Well,  yes/'  he  responded,  "but   I 
didn't  know  you  knew  it.      Is  the  dis 
covery  recent  ? " 

"  Never  mind  about  dates,  but  tell 
me  why  you  did  n't  use  the  rifle  in 
stead  of  the  lariat  ?  What  did  you 
take  it  for?" 

"  I  took  it  for  your  peace  of  mind. 
I  didn't  use  it  for  several  good  and 
substantial  and  sentimental  reasons. 
To  reverse  them,  this  last  year  I 
have  grown  to  understand  your  horror 
of  killing  things.  We  have  done 
very  well  without  sacrificing  any  of 
our  dependents;  in  fact,  it  would  seem 


10 


146      The  Master-Knot 

like  murder  to  slaughter  the  animals 
about  us.  And  it 's  such  a  little  world 
it  seems  a  pity  to  kill  off  any  of  its  in 
habitants.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  hope 
the  bear  got  away  all  right.  This  is 
maudlin,  I  know,  but  I  don't  want  my 
hand  first  to  bring  death  on  all  there 
is  left  of  earth.  Incidentally,  —  there 
are  no  cartridges." 

He  stopped  the  horses,  while  Robin 
readjusted  the  kids  to  make  them  more 
comfortable,  and  took  the  lame  one  in 
her  arms,  then  they  moved  on. 

Presently  she  said,  "  I  am  so  glad  of 
these  kids !  " 

There  was  so  much  enthusiasm  in 
her  voice  that  Adam  laughed  and 
asked  why,  and  she  answered :  — 

"  Like  you,  I  have  sound  and  senti 
mental  reasons.  The  sound  one  is 
that  we  shall  need  their  fleece  unless, 
—  why,  goodness  gracious,  Adam,  there 


The  Master-Knot      147 

is  a  baking-powder  can  of  flax  in  the 
dresser,  and  I  never  thought  till  this 
moment  that  we  can  plant  it." 

"True,"  answered  Adam,  "but 
given  flax  or  fleece,  what  would  you 
do  with  it?" 

"  Spin  it,"  she  answered  senten- 
tiously.  "  Of  course  you  think  I  can't, 
but  it  happens  that  I  once  lived,  when 
I  was  a  little  girl,  very  near  to  an  old 
woman.  I  don't  refer  to  her  age,  but 
her  ideas.  She  carded  and  spun  and 
wove  and  dyed  all  the  family  clothing. 
She  made  her  own  soap  and  would  n't 
have  a  stove  in  the  house.  She  had 
eight  children,  too,  and  they  all  of 
them  turned  out  badly.  I  used  to  go 
there  off  and  on ;  I  think  she  looked 
on  me  as  a  kind  of  sinful  amusement. 
Anyhow,  she  told  me  the  world  was 
going  to  ruin,  and  the  women  were 
poor  'doless'  creatures,  who  couldn't 


148      The  Master-Knot 

spin  a  hank  of  yarn,  or  gin  a  pound 
of  cotton,  or  heel  a  sock.  She  shook 
her  head  over  me  when  she  found  I 
could  n't  knit,  but  she  set  a  garter  for 
me  at  once,  and  during  the  seven  or 
eight  years  that  I  went  by  her  door  on 
my  way  to  school  she  taught  me  all 
those  marvelous  accomplishments.  I 
daresay  I  have  forgotten  them." 

"  What  are  the  sentimental  reasons  ?" 
asked  Adam. 

She  looked  at  the  kid  as  it  nestled 
against  her  shoulder. 

"  I  have  a  fancy,"  she  said,  "  that 
Nannette  and  her  children  are  going 
to  minister  to  a  mind  diseased,  and 
help  pluck  a  rooted  sorrow  from  the 
brain.  The  world  was  getting  too 
healthy.  Has  it  ever  struck  you  that 
we  have  neither  of  us  been  sick  for  a 
day  this  year  ?  I  have  had  to  mother 
the  chickens,  but  there  has  been  no 


The  Master-Knot      149 

suffering.  I  'm  not  glad  to  have  pain 
come  into  the  world,  but  it  is  good  to 
be  able  to  alleviate  it.  We  will  put 
Nannette  in  a  sling  till  her  leg  has  a 
chance  to  set,  and  by  the  time  it  is 
well  she  won't  want  to  leave  us.  As 
for  the  kids,  I  expect  they  will  be  like 
the  plague  of  frogs,  and  we  shall  find 
them  in  our  beds  and  our  ovens  and 
our  kneading  troughs.  Oh,  Adam, 
there  is  the  house!  Doesn't  it  look 
dear  and  homey  ?  " 

She  put  the  kid  back  on  the  sled, 
and  ran  on,  pointing  out  this  and  that, 
the  growth  of  the  corn,  the  afternoon 
radiance,  till  they  reached  their  door 
way.  Then  there  were  a  thousand 
things  to  do.  First  Nannette  was 
made  comfortable  in  the  stable;  then 
the  chickens  were  summoned  to  a 
meal  of  yellow  corn,  and  when  Lassie 
drove  the  cows  into  the  barnyard,  each 


150       The  Master-Knot 

was  congratulated  in  turn  upon  her 
calf,  and  those  interesting,  if  wobbly, 
bovine  infants  were  carefully  inspected. 
After  supper  they  sat  down  before  the 
fire,  very  tired,  but  the  nearest  happy 
they  had  been  in  a  year.  The  dogs 
were  lying  about  them,  and  the  thump, 
thump  of  first  one  tail  and  then  an 
other  told  the  story  of  canine  content, 
while  the  kittens  walked  over  them 
impartially. 

"  What  a  strange  thing  human  na 
ture  is!"  Adam  said.  "The  only 
thing  needed  to  make  our  life  perfect 
is  that  it  shall  not  last.  The  moment, 
if  that  moment  ever  comes,  when  it  is 
real  no  more,  it  will  become  ideal/' 

"I  know,"  she  said  dreamily. 
"  Things  in  the  world  used  to  be  too 
good  to  be  true.  This  must  cease  to 
be,  to  be  good  at  all." 


XI 

Tet  if  Hope  has  flown  away 

In  a  nighty  or  in  a  day^ 

In  a  vision,  or  in  none> 

Is  it  therefore  the  less  gone? 

All  that  we  see  or  seem 

Is  but  a  dream  within  a  dream. 

POE. 


I 


T  is  the  first  of  May,"  said 
Adam.  "  It  is  a  year  ago  to 
day.  Shall  we  pass  the  gate 
way  ?  " 

"  Not  now/'  answered  Robin. 
"  Wait  till  afternoon.  I  am  so  busy 
this  morning." 

She  was  sitting  at  the  table  teaching 
half  a  dozen  little  chickens  to  appreci 
ate  hard-boiled  egg.  The  wounded 
kid  was  lying  in  her  lap,  one  arm  was 
about  it,  and  an  adventurous  kitten 
looked  over  her  shoulder.  As  she 
tapped  on  the  board  with  one  slender 
forefinger,  the  chickens,  hearing  their 
mother's  bill,  began  picking  up  the 
fragments  of  egg.  She  had  rounded 
out  wonderfully  in  a  year,  and  Adam 
realized  for  the  first  time  that  she  was 
a  very  beautiful  woman. 


154      The  Master-Knot 

"  Suppose,"  she  went  on,  "  you  be 
gin  your  book  to-day.  Write  your 
description  of  a  year  ago.  It  will 
never  be  so  plain  again.  There  is 
plenty  of  time  before  we  go.  Besides, 
if  it  is  a  dream,  we  shall  want  the 
written  record  to  show  what  dreams 
may  come/' 

Adam  hesitated  a  moment,  then 
went  to  his  desk.  She  had  said  truly, 
the  events  of  that  day  would  never 
again  be  so  clear,  and  as  he  began  to 
record  them  they  marshaled  themselves 
before  him,  until  he  found  himself 
writing  with  a  dramatic  power  that 
fascinated  and  amazed  him. 

It  must  have  been  some  time  after 
ward  that  Robin  stole  in  and  set  a 
glass  of  milk,  some  biscuit  and 
strawberries,  down  on  the  desk  beside 
him  and  then  went  out,  taking  the 
dogs  with  her.  He  did  not  notice 


The  Master-Knot      155 

another  sound  until  she  called  him  to 
supper. 

While  he  did  the  evening  work 
Robin  dressed  herself  in  the  garments 
she  had  worn  the  year  before.  As 
soon  as  she  could  make  others  she  had 
put  them  aside,  awaiting  the  awaken 
ing  or  the  rescue. 

The  -  heavy  cloth  skirt  and  the  silk 
waist  were  put  on  with  a  strange 
reluctance.  Years  ago  the  old  doctor 
in  "The  Guardian  Angel  "  said  our 
china  became  our  tombstones,  but 
surely  our  garments  may  become  the 
graveyards  of  our  emotions,  and  hold 
sharp  or  sweet  remembrances  long 
after  they  are  past  wearing.  In  spite 
of  some  tan  Robin  found  the  face  that 
looked  back  at  her  from  her  mirror 
infinitely  more  attractive  than  it  had 
been  the  year  before. 

Adam  started  a  little  when  he  saw 


i  56      The  Master-Knot 

her.  Then  he  drew  her  hand  through 
his  arm,  and  they  went  to  the  gate 
way.  As  he  opened  the  gate  she 
turned  and  looked  back.  The  sun 
was  behind  the  mountains,  and  the 
shadows  were  long  and  dark.  They 
heard  the  sounds  of  the  various  crea 
tures  settling  into  quiet  for  the  night, 
and  Adam  sent  back  all  the  dogs  but 
Lassie.  They  went  slowly  and  wist 
fully.  Robin  stooped  and  kissed  Prince 
on  his  white  forehead.  As  Adam 
closed  the  gate,  she  said  half  fearfully, 
"Shall  we  ever  see  them  again?" 
But  he  did  not  answer.  He  took  her 
hand  and  led  her  to  the  boulder. 

Far  as  the  eye  could  reach  they 
saw  what  they  expected  to  see.  Half 
a  mile  away  the  sea  rolled  in  on  a 
tolerably  level  beach ;  here  it  thun 
dered  and  roared  against  a  sheer  cliff. 
Among  the  rocks  they  could  see  the 


The  Master-Knot      157 

nests  of  many  wild-fowl,  and  gulls  flew 
by  them.  They  sat  down  on  the 
rock  and  waited  until  midnight.  Then 
they  went  home.  The  dogs  received 
them  obstreperously,  and  the  kid  from 
its  corner  bleated  faintly.  Robin 
bent  over  it  anxiously,  then  warmed 
some  milk  and  fed  it.  When  Adam 
came  in  with  some  fresh  water  she 
was  swinging  slowly  to  and  fro  in  the 
rocker,  singing  softly  an  absurd  nur 
sery  song :  — 

"  Sleep,  baby,  sleep. 
The  stars  they  are  the  sheep ; 
The  big  moon  is  the  shepherdess ; 
The  little  stars  are  the  lambs,  I  guess. 
Sleep,  baby,  sleep." 

"  It  needed  to  be  cuddled,"  she  said 
in  as  matter-of-fact  a  voice  as  if  all 
lambs  were  sung  to  sleep  regularly. 
"  You  know  dear  old  Professor  Carter 
said  there  would  have  been  no  wild 


158      The  Master-Knot 

animals  if  we  had  n't  made  them  so  ; 
but  now,  if  you  will,  you  can  put  her 
with  Nannie." 

When  he  came  back  she  had  gone 
into  her  room.  There  was  nothing 
more  for  either  of  them  to  say.  There 
was  nothing  to  do,  except  to  hope  for 
a  sail,  since  they  no  longer  hoped  for 
an  awakening. 


XII 

Speech  is  but  broken  light  upon  the  depth 
Of  the  unspoken. 

GEORGE  ELIOT. 


i 


work  on  the  book  pro 
gressed  rather  slowly.  Often 
Adam  had  to  refer  to  Robin 
when  his  memory  was  at  fault.  At 
first  she  had  gone  away,  to  leave  him 
alone  with  his  work,  but  as  he  referred 
to  her  more  frequently,  she  sat  with 
him,  sewing  while  he  wrote,  a  frame 
of  morning-glories  back  of  her,  or 
reading  with  the  keen  enjoyment  of 
one  who  renews  a  pleasure  long  fore 
gone.  When  he  seemed  to  be  going 
on  smoothly,  she  sometimes  stole  away 
and  gave  herself  up  to  long  hours  with 
her  violin. 

One  afternoon  she  tapped  on  his 
casement.  His  work  was  lagging,  and 
he  rose  gladly  and  went  out  with  her. 
They  walked  up  the  path  and  through 


1 62      The  Master-Knot 

the  gateway  to  their  boulder,  and  sat 
down. 

"  Talk  to  me,"  said  Adam. 

She  shook  her  head.  "  About  what, 
most  worshipful  seigneur  ?  For  I  am 
but  a  worm  of  the  dust  before  thee, 
and  all  my  tales  are  of  the  homely 
tasks  of  baking  and  brewing.  Naught 
is  there  worthy  to  be  set  down  in  thy 
book."  Then,  with  a  sudden  change 
of  manner,  "  Oh,  Adam,  there  are 
eighteen  new  chickens  to-day  !  The 
Plymouth  Rock  hen  stole  a  nest,  and 
they  came  off  this  morning.  And 
there  is  some  news  too.  The  flax  is 
in  bloom.  It  is  so  pretty." 

"When  do  you  expect  to  weave 
your  first  linen  ?"  asked  Adam. 

"Oh,  I  don't  know,  but  it  is  good 
to  know  there  will  be  some  to  weave. 
Do  you  remember  Andersen's  story  of 
the  flax  ?  I  was  thinking  of  it  this 


The  Master-Knot       163 

morning  as  I  pulled  out  some  weeds, 
and  how  when  it  was  pulled  up  and 
cut  and  hackled,  it  said  :  *  One  can 
not  always  have  good  times.  One 
must  make  one's  experience,  and  so 
one  comes  to  know  something  ; '  and 
when  it  is  woven  and  cut  up  and  made 
into  garments,  it  still  says,  '  If  I  have 
suffered  something,  I  have  been  made 
into  something.  I  am  happiest  of  all. 
That  is  a  real  blessing.  Now  I  shall 
be  of  some  use  in  the  world,  and  that 
is  right,  that  is  a  true  pleasure/  " 

"  If  one  only  knew  he  was  to  be  of 
some  use,"  Adam  said  wearily ;  "  if 
we  could  see  the  justification  of  our 
suffering." 

"Then  we  should  be  as  gods,"  an 
swered  Robin.  "  I  like  the  song  of 
the  flax,  *  content,  content ; '  and  when 
the  linen  is  worn  out,  it  is  again  tor 
tured  and  beaten  until  it  becomes  paper 


164      The  Master-Knot 

whereon  an  eternal  word  is  written. 
I  used  to  wonder  why  Andersen  was 
given  to  children  ;  not  that  I  wouldn't 
have  them  read  him,  but  he  is  one  of 
the  profound  thinkers  of  the  world. 
No  one  had  Andersen  clubs,  or  pro 
fessed  to  find  deep  and  wonderful  eso 
teric  truths  in  his  stories,  but  they  are 
there.  Do  you  remember  my  girls' 
club  down  on  —  I  don't  think  there 
were  any  streets,  but  the  inhabitants 
called  the  place  <  Kerry  Patch  '  ?  " 

"Why,  no,"  said  Adam,  "I  didn't 
know  you  had  one;  why  didn't  you 
tell  me?" 

"That  was  ever  so  long  ago,  ages 
and  ages,  —  when  you  came  to  see  —  " 
She  paused  a  little,  and  then  spoke 
the  personal  pronoun  that  tells  the 
whole  story,  for  a  woman  can  say 
"  him "  in  such  a  way  as  to  betray 
unspeakable  heights  of  adoration  or 


The  Master-Knot      165 

abysses  of  loathing.  She  went  on 
slowly.  "  You  were  not  one  of  my 
friends  then ;  how  could  you  be,  if 
there  existed  anything  in  common  be 
tween  you  two  ?  That  sounds  dread 
ful,  but  you  know  all  about  it  so  well 
that  subterfuges  are  useless." 

"To  tell  the  truth,  I  never  cared 
anything  about  him  at  all,"  Adam  an 
swered  quickly.  "  Like  a  good  many 
others,  I  was  enthusiastic  over  your 
voice.  He  asked  me  to  the  house  to 
hear  you  sing,  and  I  went,  and  was 
glad  of  the  chance.  And  you  have 
never  sung  for  me  once  this  year." 

"  You  never  asked  me,"  she  an 
swered.  "  '  A  dumb  priest  loses  his 
benefice.'  But  I  was  speaking  of  my 
club.  We  studied  Andersen  all  win 
ter,  and  got  enough  more  out  of  him 
than  a  lot  of  us  who  pored  over  Ibsen, 
guided  by  a  literary  expert.  Andersen 


1 66      The  Master-Knot 

has  a  more  beautiful,  a  more  inspiring 
philosophy.  Every  nation  has  its  story 
of  Psyche,  the  lost  soul  of  things,  but 
none  is  more  beautiful  than  the  tale  of 
Gerda  and  Kay.  There  were  children 
in  that  club  who  were  cruel,  horribly 
cruel,  and  one  day  when  we  gave  an 
entertainment  for  them,  one  of  the 
older  girls  recited  the  story  of  '  The 
Daisy  and  the  Lark.'  They  cried  as  I 
had  cried  over  it  years  before." 

"  I  remember,"  he  said.  "  It  broke 
my  heart  when  I  was  a  little  shaver. 
I  could  n't  give  so  sad  a  story  as  that 
to  a  child." 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  could,"  she  said,  "  if 
the  child  needed  it.  The  world  was 
cruel,  cruel,  Adam  ;  I  used  to  wonder 
sometimes  why  God  did  not  blot  it 
all  out,  as  He  has  blotted  it  out  now. 
Once  in  another  club,  a  big,  swell 
affair,  there  was  a  Humane  Society 


The  Master-Knot      167 

programme.  One  woman,  in  a  Per 
sian  lamb  jacket,  spoke  on  the  evils  of 
the  overcheck  ;  you  know  how  they 
get  that  wool  ?  And  women  nodded 
the  aigrettes  in  their  bonnets,  torn  from 
the  old  birds  while  the  little  ones  starved 
to  death,  to  show  their  approval,  and 
patted  their  hands  gloved  in  the  skins 
of  kids,  sewed  in  cloth  soon  after  their 
birth  so  they  could  n't  grow  a  fleece, 
and  tortured  all  their  short  lives,  and 
went  home  to  eat  pate-de-foie  gras, 
and  broil  live  lobsters,  thanking  God 
they  were  not  as  the  rest  of  men,  if 
only  they  let  out  their  check-reins  a 
hole  or  so.  It  was  horrible,  —  the 
cruelties  men  practised  to  gratify  ap 
petite,  and  that  women  were  guilty  of 
for  vanity.  I  suppose  I  am  a  mono 
maniac  on  the  subject,  but  we  never 
seemed  far  removed  from  barbarians, 
\yhen  we.  went  clothed  in  the  skins  of 


1 68      The  Master-Knot 

wild  animals,  and  decorated  with  their 
heads  and  tails  and  feathers,  like  so 
many  Sioux  chiefs.  The  varnish  of 
civilization  is  n't  dry  on  us  yet.  Why, 
if  a  ship  should  come  here  now,  do 
you  know  what  they  would  do  first, 
unless  they  happened  to  be  East  In 
dians  ?  They  would  say  they  wanted 
some  fresh  meat,  and  offer  to  buy 
Lily  ;  she  is  the  fattest  of  the  cows. 
If  we  would  n't  sell  her,  they  would 
probably  take  her  anyway." 

"Kill  Lily,"  cried  Adam,  angrily. 
"  They  'd  have  me  to  kill  first  ; 
nothing  on  this  place  is  going  to  be 
slaughtered  while  I  can  protect  it." 
He  went  on  more  slowly,  a  little 
ashamed  of  his  heat,  "  I  feel  a  sense  of 
kinship  with  all  these  creatures  that 
would  make  it  impossible  to  kill 
them.  It 's  like  the  woman  whose 
Newfoundland  died,  and  a  friend  asked 


The  Master- Knot      169 

if  she  was  going  to  have  him  stuffed. 
<  Stuffed! '  she  said;  'I  'd  as  soon  think 
of  stuffing  my  husband  !  ' J> 

Robin  laughed,  and  leaning  over 
tweaked  Lassie's  ear.  "  If  we  are  to 
be  stuffed,  we  prefer  to  have  it  an  ante- 
mortem  performance,  don't  we,  little 
dog?" 

The  sun  dropped  behind  the  tall 
peaks,  but  its  dying  light  still  covered 
sea  and  shore.  They  rose  as  if  for 
the  benediction,  and  looked  out  at 
the  waters  before  them.  Then  they 
looked  at  each  other  and  grew  white 
to  the  lips,  and  Robin  knelt  down  and 
flinging  her  arms  around  Lassie  sobbed 
and  laughed.  Adam  never  took  his 
eyes  from  the  coming  ship. 


XIII 

Every  ship  brings  a  word; 
Well  for  those  who  have  no  fear, 
Looking  seaward  well  assured 
'That  the  word  the  vessel  brings 
Is  the  word  they  wish  to  hear. 

EMERSON. 


i 


ship  bore  steadily  toward 
them,  but  night  was  coming 
on  so  rapidly  that  her  lines 
were  obscured.  They  could  not  even 
tell  whether  it  was  a  sailing  vessel  or 
propelled  by  steam. 

"There's  one  thing  certain,"  said 
Adam,  excitedly :  "  it  was  coming  this 
way,  but  very  slowly.  I  suppose  that 
is  to  be  expected  of  a  ship  sailing  un 
known  waters.  They  have  nothing  to 
go  by,  though  they  know,  of  course, 
just  what  part  of  the  round  globe  they 


are  on." 


She  answered  almost  apathetically, 
as  if  she  found  it  difficult  to  talk,  "  It 
seems  as  if  good  sailors  would  lay  by 
at  night,  when  they  do  not  know  their 
course,  and  there  is  land  in  sight,  — 
land  that  has  never  been  explored." 


174      The  Master  Knot 

"  It  does  seem  strange  she  should 
come  right  on,"  he  assented.  "  For 
surely  no  ship  has  ever  sailed  these  seas 
before.  Perhaps  —  " 

"  Perhaps  what?" 

"  Perhaps  she  has  been  clear  around ; 
perhaps  this  is  the  only  bit  of  land 
left  above  a  world  ocean." 

Robin  shivered  a  little,  and  Adam 
turned  toward  the  beacon,  that  had 
glowed  in  vain  for  a  year.  It  had 
been  built  on  a  high,  altar-shaped 
rock,  across  the  gorge,  where  it  could 
be  kept  up  without  leaving  the  park. 
Robin  went  with  him,  and  they  gath 
ered  a  pile  of  timber  that  insured  the 
brilliancy  of  their  signal  until  morning. 
Adam  piled  on  the  logs  till  the  blaze 
leaped  far  up  in  the  darkness  ;  then 
they  went  back  to  the  boulder  and 
sat  down  to  think  and  wait. 

"  See  how  the  wind  is  rising,"  said 


The  Master-Knot      175 

Robin,  breaking  a  silence  of  an  hour, 
during  which  even  Lassie  had  been 
motionless. 

"  But  it  is  toward  land,"  answered 
Adam. 

"  But  the  same  wind  that  brings  us 
the  ship  may  dash  it  to  pieces  on  this 
awful  coast." 

"  True,  but  she  is  far  enough  out 
to  make  herself  secure.  Oh,  Robin, 
suppose  she  sails  around  us  and  goes 
on!" 

"  That  is  impossible,"  answered 
Robin.  "The  people  on  that  ship  are 
as  anxious  to  find  us  as  we  can  be  to 
see  them,  if  they  are  civilized  at  all. 
Noah  and  Mt.  Ararat  are  not  to  be 
named  in  the  same  day  with  us." 

Adam  crossed  the  gorge  and  added 
fuel  to  the  fire.  For  a  time  the  wind 
increased  in  velocity  until  a  stiff  gale 
was  blowing,  then,  as  the  small  hours 


176      The  Master-Knot 

came  on,  it  waned,  and  the  beacon 
flared  straight  up  once  more. 

"  I  wonder  where  's  she  from  ?  " 
said  Adam. 

"I  wonder  where  she  is  now/'  an 
swered  Robin. 

"  I  feel  sure,"  he  said,  "  when  morn 
ing  comes  we  shall  see  her  riding  the 
waves  out  there ;  and  think  of  it, 
Robin,  we  can  go  ! " 

Robin  made  no  reply,  and  her  very 
silence  made  Adam  repeat,  but  as  a 
self-addressed  question,  "Go  where? 
Yes,"  he  went  on  quickly,  "  go  where, 
Robin.  Suppose  the  ship  is  all  right, 
and  that  she  stops,  and  the  crew  are 
not  pirates,  and  are  willing  to  take  us 
aboard,  where  are  we  to  go  ?  Is  there 
any  place  on  earth  that  can  mean  as 
much  to  us  as  this  island  ?  Suppose 
Asia,  or  Africa,  or  Europe  are  still  in 
existence,  we  should  not  regain  our 


The  Master-Knot      177 

friends  and  relatives,  and  life  would 
be  harder  with  strange  people,  under  a 
strange  government,  far  more  so  than 
we  have  found  it  here,  even  without 
so  many  of  its  luxuries." 

Robin  shook  her  head  sadly.  "  At 
first,  Adam.  We  should  learn  their 
language  and  their  customs.  New 
friends  are  speedily  acquired,  and  as 
for  relatives, — well,  in  the  scheme  of 
life  relatives  don't  count  for  much. 
There  always  comes  a  time  when  they 
step  out  of  our  lives,  any  way. " 

"  But  as  to  happiness  ? " 

Her  face  paled  a  little.  "  Have 
you  been  happy  here?"  she  asked, 
without  raising  her  eyes  to  his,  and 
then  went  on,  not  waiting  for  a  reply, 
"  If  you  have  been,  it  has  been  in  the 
care  of  our  little  family  of  dependents, 
who  do  not  need  you  half  so  much  as 
the  great  family  of  human  dependents. 


12 


178      The  Master-Knot 

Rest  assured  if  there  is  a  continent  over 
there  across  the  darkness,  it  is  peopled 
with  beings  who  need  the  devoted  and 
unselfish  labors  of  such  a  man  as  you. 
You  would  find  your  work  easily 
enough, — the  work  you  have  been 
saved  for,  the  work  you  must  do." 

"But  if  there  is  no  continent  left?" 
he  queried. 

"  In  that  case  there  must  be  islands  ; 
there  were  many  mountains  higher 
than  these,  and  they  are  peopled,  no 
doubt.  Shall  we  not  go  to  these  other 
orphans,  deserted  by  Mother  Earth, 
our  brothers  and  sisters,  through  our 
common  calamity  ? " 

Both  were  silent,  engrossed  in  their 
own  thoughts.  A  return  to  the  world 
meant  going  back  to  the  uncivilized 
rush  of  civilization.  It  meant  the 
eternal  question  of  what  shall  we  eat, 
and  what  shall  we  drink,  and  where- 


The  Master-Knot      179 

withal  shall  we  be  clothed  ?  It  meant 
the  old  competition,  the  stern  old  law 
of  the  survival  of  the  brawniest.  Above 
all,  to  Robin,  it  meant  separation  from 
Adam,  for  once  more  in  Rome,  the 
customs  of  Rome  must  be  followed. 
To  do  Adam  justice,  this  was  a  contin 
gency  which  did  not  enter  his  mind. 
As  he  had  said  before,  whatever  had 
put  them  in  this  dream  together  would 
keep  them  there,  so  that  when  he 
thought  of  relinquishing  all  the  com 
fort  and  ease  and  quiet  of  his  present 
life,  all  the  loving  animals,  the  cosy 
little  house,  the  tiny  fields,  the  bloom 
ing  garden,  it  never  occurred  to  him 
that  he  must  relinquish  more  than  all 
these  things,  more  than  the  peace  and 
harmony,  that  which,  unconsciously, 
had  come  to  be  the  very  guiding  star 
of  his  life. 

"  I   wonder  if  whoever  is  left  cares 


180      The  Master-Knot 

for  grand  opera  ? "  said  Robin,  rather 
grimly. 

"Why?"  asked  Adam  in  so  star 
tled  a  voice  that  she  laughed  hysteri 
cally. 

"  It  's  the  only  thing  I  know  well 
enough  to  make  a  living  at  it/'  she 
said  laconically.  "  I  think  the  fire 
needs  some  more  wood,  Adam." 

As  he  replenished  it,  her  words 
burned  themselves  upon  his  brain,  and 
he  realized  in  an  instant  that  a  return 
to  the  old  world  meant  giving  up  this 
supreme  friend,  all  that  he  had  left  in 
the  world,  all  there  was  for  him  in  any 
world.  The  thing  was  impossible.  He 
turned  to  go  back  to  her,  some  kind 
of  an  impetuous  avowal  on  his  lips, 
but  she  had  left  the  boulder  and  walked 
down  almost  to  the  edge  of  a  precipi 
tous  cliff  which  they  had  called  "  Lov 
er's  Leap,"  in  a  spirit  of  badinage. 


The  Master-Knot      181 

She  stood  there  quietly,  watching  the 
gray  dawn,  and  his  heart  impelled 
him  to  go  to  her  and  take  her  in  his 
arms.  As  his  love  revealed  itself  to 
him  in  all  its  power,  it  seemed  impos 
sible  that  he  should  know  it  now  for 
the  first  time.  Why,  why,  had  he 
been  so  blind  ?  If  the  ship  took  them 
away  — 

He  walked  unsteadily  down  to  her, 
resolved  to  say  nothing.  If  she  wanted 
to  go,  her  wish  should  be  sufficient. 

The  dawn  came  slowly,  but  it  came 
at  last.  As  the  darkness  lifted,  a  slight 
fog  settled  over  the  face  of  the  waters. 
Instinctively  they  recalled  that  other 
night  when  they  had  watched  through 
the  mist  and  his  hand  closed  over  hers. 
The  sun  was  well  up  before  the  east 
wind  dissipated  it,  and  left  only  the 
dancing  waves,  brilliantly  blue,  stretch 
ing  away  into  the  dawn.  On  all  that 


182      The  Master-Knot 

broad  expanse  there  was  not  so  much 
as  a  cockle-shell  afloat. 

Robin  turned  and  looked  to  right 
and  left  in  bewilderment,  and  then 
at  Adam. 

His  chest  was  heaving,  and  as  his 
eyes  searched  her  face  he  cried,  "  Thank 
God,"  and  gathered  her  up  in  his 
arms.  She  nestled  there  without  a 
word. 

They  crossed  the  gorge  and  scattered 
the  brands  of  their  watch-fire,  and 
walked  on  down  to  the  cove.  Sud 
denly  Lassie  came  bounding  toward 
them  uttering  short,  excited  barks. 
They  quickened  their  pace,  and  as 
they  came  in  sight  of  the  beach  dis 
covered  the  object  of  her  alarm. 
Against  a  small  promontory,  lying  on 
one  side,  was  the  ship  they  had  sighted 
the  evening  before.  It  was  a  hopeless 
wreck,  and  had  borne  to  them  no  liv- 


The  Master-Knot      183 

ing  thing.  Yet  it  had  served  its  pur 
pose.  It  had  revealed  their  love  for 
each  other,  and  told  them  that  they 
had  hoped  against  a  second  deluge  in 
vain. 


XIV 

truth  of  truths  is  love. 


BAILET. 


A  Adam  went  about  his  morn 
ing's  work  he  was  filled  with 
a  sense  of  gladness,  an  exal 
tation  of  life  he  had  never  known  be 
fore.  He  stretched  out  his  arms,  as  if 
to  let  all  the  glory  of  the  earth  meet 
the  profounder  splendor  of  his  soul. 
As  he  walked  down  the  garden  path 
he  looked  with  affection  at  the  flowers 
they  had  planted  together.  But  for 
the  absurdity  of  it,  he  could  have 
woven  a  chaplet  of  them  and  worn  it. 
But  the  world  had  reached  that  height 
of  civilization  where  the  symbol  of 
the  glad  and  living  thing  was  too 
emotional;  always  and  everywhere  we 
preferred  the  dead  thing,  the  skin  of 
the  seal,  the  shroud  of  the  silkworm, 
the  straw  that  was  left  after  the 


1 88      The  Master-Knot 

flowers  were  gone ;  and  Adam  was 
still  civilized. 

He  accepted  his  happiness  without 
a  question.  It  was  too  real,  too  keen, 
too  great  a  revelation  for  him  to  stop 
to  analyze  it.  He  knew  it  in  every 
pulsation  of  his  heart,  in  every  imagi 
nation  of  his  mind,  and  with  the 
quickened  senses  of  the  lover  he  per 
ceived  that  Robin's  feelings  differed 
from  his  own.  For  a  year  he  had 
been  lost  in  introspection;  now  they 
seemed  to  have  changed  places,  and 
she  grew  silent  and  almost  reserved. 

"  What  is  it,  dear  ?"  he  said.  "  No, 
don't  try  to  evade  an  answer.  We 
must  not  stop  being  frank  with  each 
other  now." 

She  did  not  reply  at  once,  and  when 
she  did  her  voice  was  so  low  that  he 
had  to  stoop  to  catch  the  words.  "  Do 
you  think  you  do  love  me  as  fully  as 


The  Master-Knot      189 

you  might  have  loved  some  one  else, 
younger  and  happier  than  I,  better 
fitted  to  you?  It  doesn't  seem  as  if 
you  could ;  you  never  did  in  the  old 
days,  you  never  even  thought  of  it." 

Adam  laughed  lightly.  "I  beg  of 
you  spare  me,  for  this  isn't  'so  sud 
den  '  at  all."  Then  seeing  that  her 
mood  forbade  jest,  he  went  on  se 
riously  :  "  Really,  I  mean  it.  It 's 
true  I  never  made  you  pretty  speeches 
in  the  old  days,  nor  stopped  to  con 
sider  whether  I  might  have  done  so 
had  things  been  different ;  but  then  I 
never  made  pretty  speeches  to  any  one. 
From  the  very  beginning  I  have  taken 
you  as  a  matter  of  course.  It  always 
seemed  as  if  we  had  known  each  other 
from  the  very  first.  You  entered  into 
my  plans  as  if  you  had  known  them  as 
you  might  if  we  had  gone  to  the  same 
little  red  schoolhouse.  I  wish  we  had  ! 


i  go      The  Master-Knot 

I  'm  jealous  of  the  years  when  I  did  n't 
know  you." 

"But  a  whole  year,"  she  said  doubt 
fully.  "  Are  you  sure  it  isn't  just  lone 
liness  and  propinquity  ? " 

Adam  kissed  her  fingers  one  at  a  time. 
"  You  are  going  to  beg  my  pardon  for 
that  some  day,"  he  said.  "You  are  not 
very  vain,  my  sweetheart ;  how  could  I 
help  loving  you?  " 

"That's  just  what  I  am  finding 
fault  with,"  she  said  with  a  sudden 
twinkle  of  fun  in  her  eyes.  "  You 
have  managed  to  keep  from  it  so  long. 
But  seriously,  I  am  not  the  kind  of  a 
woman  I  should  have  fancied  you 
would  care  for.  I  am,  at  least  I  was, 
very  weary  of  life ;  I  knew  too  much 
about  it.  And  I  am  older  than  you." 

He  looked  at  her  critically.  "  You 
were,  a  year  ago,"  he  answered ;  "  I  don't 
know  how  much,  two  or  three  years — " 


The  Master-Knot      191 

"Five,"  she  said. 

"  Well,  five ;  but  this  last  year  you 
have  been  growing  young.  The  very 
fact  that  you  were  tired  of  the  old  life 
made  it  less  of  a  strain  for  you  to  give 
it  up.  The  tired  look  is  all  gone,  even 
from  your  eyes,  whereas  lots  of  gray 
has  come  into  my  hair.  You  had 
learned  to  live  in  yourself  and  your 
music.  My  whole  scheme  of  life  was 
wrapped  up  in  the  social  existence  of 
our  time.  In  a  way  I  lost  more  than 
you  did.  I  have  learned  a  good  deal 
this  past  year.  Five  years  ago,  if  I  had 
loved  you,  there  would  have  been  many 
inequalities  between  us  that  do  not  exist 
today.  Now  it  seems  to  me  we  are  as 
absolutely  mated,  as  much  parts  of  one 
whole  as  the  two  halves  of  the  brain, 
or  the  right  and  left  ventricles  of  our 
hearts.  It  is  no  disparagement  of  you 
or  of  myself  to  say  that  no  boy  could 


192      The  Master-Knot 

appreciate  you.  The  measure  of  a  man's 
manhood  is  his  ability  to  understand  the 
highest  type  of  womanhood.  As  to 
your  being  worldly,  that 's  all  nonsense." 
He  stroked  her  hair  a  few  minutes  in 
silence,  and  then  said,  half  quizzically, 
"  You  might  question  me,  if  I  said  it, 
but  this  is  what  Balzac  said  of  women 
like  you:  '  A  woman  who  has  received  a 
man's  education  possesses  a  faculty  which 
is  the  most  fertile  in  happiness  for  her 
self  and  her  husband;  but  that  woman 
is  as  rare  as  happiness  itself/  ' 

She  looked  pleased,  but  she  did  not 
reply,  and  he  went  on. 

"  Do  you  still  doubt  me  ?  Well,  then, 
know  that  I  have  loved  you  from  the 
very  beginning,  for  love,  when  it  comes, 
is  a  retroactive  law  of  our  being.  If  I 
had  loved  you  less,  if  you  had  seemed 
less  a  part  of  me,  I  might  have  realized 


it  sooner." 


The  Master-Knot      193 

She  shook  her  head.  "  I  have 
known  that  I  loved  you  for  a  long 
time,  months,"  she  said. 

"Then  you  ought  to  have  known 
I  loved  you,"  he  answered  quickly. 
"  Don't  you  think  it  is  possible  to 
love  with  our  souls,  our  subconscious- 
ness,  and  realize  with  our  slow  brains, 
after  months  and  years,  what  our  hearts 
knew  at  once  ?  Even  love  has  be 
come  more  or  less  of  a  mental  process. 
We  reason  about  things  instead  of  feel 
ing  them,  and  yet  when  we  come  to 
our  last  analyses  we  don't  know  any 
thing  ;  we  simply  feel.  When  the 
scientist  says,  '  The  amoeba  moves  out 
of  the  shade  into  the  sunlight  because 
it  wants  the  sunlight/  he  bases  his  pos 
tulate  upon  what  he  feels,  and  believes 
that  the  atom  feels.  This  is  all  that 
he  knows.  We  do  not  seek  warmth 
because  we  have  calculated  its  effects 
13 


194      The  Master-Knot 

upon  us,  but  because  we  feel  cold. 
Oh,  we  have  starved  our  feelings  to 
feed  our  brains,  until  the  mind  be 
lieves  it  is  the  immortal  part  of  us, 
instead  of  realizing  that  what  we  know, 
we  are  merely  re-discovering,  while 
what  we  feel  is  our  apperception  of 
the  infinite.  If  we  had  the  courage 
to  be  true  to  our  feelings,  instead  of 
our  thoughts,  I  believe  it  would  be 
a  better,  as  it  would  certainly  be  a 
truer,  world/' 

"  Do  you  really  think  more  people 
are  guided  by  thought  than  by  feel 
ing  ?  "  she  asked  with  a  good  deal  of 
surprise. 

"Perhaps  not  in  one  sense,"  he 
answered.  "  A  great  many  people  are 
carried  along  by  their  impulses,  their 
transitory  emotions,  which  are  not, 
properly  speaking,  feelings  at  all.  They 
make  what  some  one  calls  the  '  fatal 


The  Master- Knot      195 

error  of  mistaking  the  eddy  for  the 
current.'  But  among  educated  people 
it  seems  to  me  that  we  think  too  much, 
especially  of  our  own  thoughts,  and 
feel  too  little.  All  this  year  I  have 
not  said  that  I  loved  you ;  I  don't 
know  that  I  have  thought  it,  but  I 
have  felt  and  lived  it.  Sometimes  I 
have  not  been  thoughtful  — " 

"  You  have  always  been  too  thought 
ful,"  she  interrupted. 

"  No,  but  when  I  have  been  incon 
siderate  it  was  because  you  were  my 
self,  the  best  self  that  we  overlook 
sometimes,  but  return  to  with  unfail 
ing  loyalty.  You  were  not  bone  of 
my  bone  and  flesh  of  my  flesh  ;  that 
is  a  very  low  and  material  view  of 
what  you  have  been  and  are  to  me, 
heart  of  my  heart  and  soul  of  my  soul. 
I  cannot  think  of  a  life  apart  from 
you,  for  you  are  my  life.  Marriage 


196      The  Master-Knot 

is  not  a  matter  of  a  license  and  a 
ceremony  and  Mendelssohn  and  gap 
ing  crowds  and  a  tour.  We  do  not 
need  any  one  to  tell  us  that  what  God 
has  joined  cannot  be  sundered  by  man. 
All  this  year  has  been  a  long  wedding 
of  every  thought  and  feeling  and 
desire,  until  I  have  looked  into  your 
eyes  to  see  my  own  wish.  We  have 
thought  and  thought,  but  that  way 
madness  lies.  Now  I  feel  that  all  the 
world  we  have  lost,  lives  for  us  in 
every  glorious  possibility  in  each  other. 
For  I  know  that  you  love  me." 

"Yes,"  she  said,  "I  think  I  have 
loved  you  all  along,  but  it  never  en 
tered  my  dreams  that  you  could  love 
me.  Even  now,  when  you  tell  me, 
it  does  not  seem  as  if  it  could  be  so, 
either  by  the  mental  process,  or  by 
that  of  feeling." 

He    caught    her    in    his    arms    and 


The  Master-Knot      197 

kissed  her,  a  kiss  so  long  and  tender 
that  it  left  her  clinging  to  him,  breath 
less  and  half  awakened. 

"Don't  think,"  he  said,  "feel, — 
feel  my  heart  and  know  that  every 
beat  is  for  you,  that  every  atom  of  me 
calls  for  you,  and  every  drop  of  blood 
obeys,  as  it  would  command  you.  I 
have  tried  to  reach  the  ideal  of  the 
love  that  says,  not  'thoumust  be  mine/ 
but  <I  must  be  thine/  but  I  have 
failed  if  you  can  doubt  me." 

She  flung  her  arms  around  his  neck 
with  sudden  passion. 

"This  is  the  greatest,  the  most 
perfect  dream  of  all,"  she  said;  "I 
think  it  must  be  heaven." 

"  A  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth," 
he  answered  gently. 


XV 

Women  alone  know  how  much  attraction 
there  is  in  the  respect  which  a  master  shows 

them. 

BALZAC. 


i 


derelict  did  not  afford 
them  much  amusement  or  in 
formation.  The  waves  soon 
beat  her  to  pieces  on  the  savage 
rocks.  Apparently  she  had  been  a 
ship  plying  between  Western  ports, 
probably  San  Francisco  and  Hono 
lulu.  In  the  wreckage  washed  up 
there  were  a  few  pounds  of  rice,  and 
some  brooms  of  what  they  believed 
to  be  sugar-cane.  There  was  nothing 
else. 

"  Not  even  a  lemon  !  >:t  Robin  said 
disconsolately.  "  Think  of  living  all 
one's  natural  life  not  only  ten,  but  ten 
thousand  miles  from  a  lemon. " 

Adam  laughed  sympathetically. 
"  It  's  like  a  yachting  party  I  remem- 


202      The  Master-Knot 

her  ;  we  found  that  the  boat  we  had 
engaged  had  been  taken  by  somebody 
else,  and  our  set  had  to  be  divided. 
Later  in  the  evening  we  discovered 
that  we  had  all  the  sugar  and  the 
other  crowd  all  the  lemons.  '  'T  was 
ever  thus  from  childhood's  hour,  I  Ve 
seen  my  fondest  hopes  decay  :  I  never 
wanted  something  sour,  but  what 
molasses  came  my  way.'  Never 
mind,  dear.  We  will  go  and  plant 
our  sugar,  and  by  the  time  it  is  ready 
to  sweeten  anything,  a  whole  cargo  of 
lemons  may  have  floated  into  harbor 
right  at  our  door." 

They  crossed  the  ranges  to  the 
western  coast,  where  there  was  lower 
ground,  better  fitted  to  the  supposed 
requirements  of  rice  and  cane,  and  had 
a  good  deal  of  amusement  out  of  their 
ignorance,  neither  of  them  having 
more  than  a  misty  idea  about  either 


The  Master-Knot      203 

rice  or  sugar  before  they  reach  the 
stage  to  be  served  together. 

It  was  quite  late  when  they  were 
through  and  camped  for  supper.  Re 
membering  their  trip  of  a  few  weeks 
previous,  that  now  seemed  so  long  ago, 
Adam  said,  "  Are  you  too  tired  to  sing, 
dear  ?  It  is  so  long  since  I  have  heard 
you." 

She  stood  up  and  thought  for  a  mo 
ment,  and  then  putting  back  her  loos 
ened  hair  began  with  Bourdillon's 
"  The  night  has  a  thousand  eyes/'  and 
sang  on  and  on.  At  last,  turning  to 
Adam  with  a  little  fond  gesture,  and 
altering  the  words  slightly,  she  sang  : 

"  Like  a  laverlock  in  the  lift,  sing,  O  bonny  bride ! 
All  the  world  was  Adam  once,  with  Eve  by  his 

side. 
What 's  the  world,  my  lad,  my  love  ?   What  can 

it  do? 
I  am  thine,  and  thou  art  mine ;  life  is  sweet  and 

new. 


204      The  Master-Knot 

If  the  world  have  missed  the  mark,  let  it  stand 

by, 
For  we  two  have  gotten  leave,  and  once  more 

we'll  try." 

"'Once  more/"  Adam  repeated. 
"  Once  more,  my  darling  !  Oh,  life 
is  sweet  and  new  for  us ;  we  can  afford 
to  lose  the  world  !  When  will  you 
come  to  me,  love,  when  ? " 

She  shook  her  head  with  a  little 
wilful  laugh,  and  all  the  glistening 
glory  of  her  hair  fell  about  her  like  a 
wedding  veil. 

"  Wait,"  she  said ;  "  wait  a  little. 
The  flax  is  not  nearly  ready  for  spin 
ning  yet  ;  can  a  bride  forget  her 
attire  ?  Besides,  how  can  we  be — " 
she  paused,  and  let  her  silence  fill  the 
gap,  "  when  I  know  we  neither  of  us 
know  any  ceremony  more  dignified 
than  hopping  over  a  broomstick  ? " 

They    started    homeward,    walking 


The  Master- Knot      205 

slowly  through  the  dimly  lighted 
mountain  gorges,  talking  the  ineffable 
nonsense  that  lovers  never  weary  of. 
As  they  came  to  a  brook  that  rushed 
noisily  down  the  ravine,  Adam  stepped 
across,  and  held  out  his  hand  to  her. 

"Wait  a  moment,"  he  said,  "just 
where  you  are,  dear,  and  say  this  with 
me :  — 

"  *  Over  running  water :  my  love  I 
give  to  you,  my  life  I  pledge  to  you, 
my  heart  I  take  not  back  from  you 
while  this  water  runs. 

"  'Over  running  water :  every  seventh 
year,  at  this  time  of  the  year,  at  this 
hour  of  the  night,  I  will  meet  you 
here  to  renew  my  troth ;  death  alone 
to  relieve  me  of  this  vow.'  ' 

"  Is  that  all  ?  "  she  asked  wonder- 
ingly.  "  Over  running  water,  while 
this  water  runs,  while  there  is  any 
snow  in  the  mountains,  or  rivers  upon 


266       The  Master-Knot 

land,  or  waters  in  the  seas,  or  clouds  in 
the  skies,  when  the  world  is  old,  and 
the  sun  burned  out,  and  time  grows 
weary,  I  shall  love  you  still,  always  and 
forever.  What  is  it  all  about,  love  ? " 
He  clasped  her  close,  and  did  not 
answer  at  once.  "  Don't  you  know 
that  old  Irish  troth/5  he  said,  "which 
would  have  been  enough,  even  in 
that  hard,  unromantic  world  of  ours, 
to  have  made  you  legally  my  wife, 
if  said  over  any  Scottish  stream  ?  I 
thought  you  knew ;  you  are  sure  I 
would  not  trick  you  ?  You  know 
I  could  not  ?  "  He  put  her  head  back 
on  his  shoulder  and  looked  into  her 
shining  eyes.  It  seemed  to  him  he 
could  not  bear  even  a  look  of  re 
proach.  She  raised  her  hands  almost 
as  if  she  were  placing  an  invisible 
crown  upon  his  head,  and  let  her 
arms  fall  about  his  shoulders. 


The  Master- Knot      207 
"  Then  I  am  your  wife  while   liv 
ing  water  runs  ? " 

"  Forever   and  forever/'  he  replied. 
"  Oh,  wait,  wait  just  a  little,"  she 
answered. 


XVI 

All  persons  possessing  any  •portion  of  power 
ought  to  be  strongly  and  awfully  impressed 
with  an  idea  that  they  act  in  trust,  and  that 
they  are  to  account  for  their  conduct  in  that 
trust  to  the  one  great  Master,  Author,  and 
Founder  of  society. 

BURKE. 


A'AM  found  a  note  beside  his 
plate  in  the  morning.  "  I 
will  be  back  before  five 
o'clock,"  it  said ;  "  I  must  think." 
He  did  not  sit  down  to  the  table  she 
had  spread  for  him,  but  called  the 
dogs ;  Prince  was  missing,  and  this 
was  a  relief  to  him.  Nothing  could 
happen  to  her  when  Prince  was  with 
her.  His  first  impulse  was  to  follow 
her,  but  he  repelled  it,  and  he  too  sat 
down  to  think.  Lassie  whined  un 
easily,  and  he  stroked  her  head  absent- 
mindedly,  and  finally  went  out  and 
tried  to  work.  The  hours  dragged 
away,  and  by  four  o'clock  he  could 
stand  it  no  longer.  He  went  to  the 
gateway.  As  he  unfastened  it,  he  saw 
her  coming  toward  him,  but  she 


212      The  Master-Knot 

stopped  and  he  joined  her,  and  to 
gether  they  turned  back  to  the  boul 
der.  He  noticed  that  she  was  very 
white,  and  that  her  eyes  looked  as  if 
she  had  not  slept,  but  he  only  said, 
"  Have  you  thought  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  she  answered,  "  I  have 
thought." 

"  And  decided  ?  " 

"No,"  she  said  wearily;  "we  must 
decide  together.  We  are  not  children, 
Adam,  nor  are  we  in  any  way  the  pro 
totypes  of  those  first  parents  of  ours. 
I  think  sometimes  that  ever  since  their 
day  their  children  have  been  walking 
in  a  blind  circle,  eating  not  the  fruit 
of  knowledge,  but  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil.  And  what  do  we 
know,  you  and  I,  after  all  these  years? 
Are  you  sure  what  we  ought  to  do  ? 
It  is  as  if  God  had  taken  us  into  a 
conspiracy  to  renew  the  old,  or  create 


The  Master- Knot      213 

a  new,  scheme  of  existence.  Possibly 
we  are  being  tried,  tested,  to  prove  . 
whether  or  not  we  have  learned  our 
lesson.  We  must  be  brave  enough  to 
think,  not  what  is  our  will,  but  what  is 
our  duty.  Think  of  the  awful  respon 
sibility,  whichever  way  we  choose." 

"I  can't,"  said  Adam.  "I  can't 
think  of  anything  but  you." 

"  Nor  I  of  aught  but  you,"  she  said, 
moving  away,  "  when  you  hold  me  so. 
But  we  must  think." 

"  I  have,"  answered  Adam,  gravely. 
"  All  my  life  I  have  thought.  I  have 
wanted  the  perfect  companionship  of 
the  one  woman  in  all  the  world  who 
could  give  it ;  I  have  always  known 
she  would  come.  I  have  wanted  a 
home  ;  I  have  wanted  to  see  my  sons 
and  daughters  grow  up  about  me.  I 
wanted  to  be  a  power  for  good  in  this 
world  of  which  we  are  a  part,  and 


214      The  Master- Knot 

where  we  live  for  some  good  purpose, 
if  there  be  any  purpose  in  life.  I  have 
so  conducted  myself  that  I  can  look  a 
good  woman  in  the  face,  and  offer  her 
my  life,  for  whatever  it  is  worth,  with 
out  damning  recollections  to  come  be 
tween  us.  My  children  will  have  a 
clean  heritage  of  blood  and  name. 
The  family  tree  was  scoffed  at  in 
America,  but,  thank  God,  mine  was  an 
oak  that  had  weathered  many  a  gale. 
Not  very  great  folk,  but  honest,  up 
right,  fearless  men  and  women,  true  to 
their  king  or  their  country  and  their 
faiths;  true  to  their  ideals,  too,  when 
their  fellows  were  content  with  realities 
only.  Any  man  who  gives  his  children 
such  a  heritage  as  that  can  say  with 
more  truth  than  Napoleon  said  to  his 
soldiers,  '  Fifty  centuries  look  down 
upon  you.'  I  wanted  to  make  the 
world  a  little  better  for  my  life,  and  I 


The  Master-Knot     215 

wanted  my  children  brought  up  to  feel 
that  their  lives  belonged  first  to  their 
country,  to  live  or  die  for  her." 

"  I  know,"  said  Robin,  softly  ;  "  I 
used  to  think  I  would  drape  the  flag 
over  my  baby's  cradle,  and  embroider 
it  on  his  pinning  blanket." 

"  We  are  probably  a  pair  of  senti 
mental  fools,"  he  went  on,  "  but  I  be 
lieve  in  sentiment.  A  man  could  not 
say  this  out  loud  because  sentiment  was 
supposed  to  be  essentially  womanish. 
How  those  old  distinctions  weary  one, 
with  their  scientific  data  to  prove  that 
men  surpass  women  in  the  senses  of 
feeling  and  taste,  while  women  have 
better  sight  and  hearing,  and  so  on 
through  every  conceivable  maundering 
of  the  human  brain,  forever  harping 
on  differences  and  accentuating  them, 
forever  dwelling  on  sex  distinctions  and 
never  on  a  common  humanity." 


2i6      The  Master-Knot 

"  It  was  a  dreadfully  scientific  age," 
she  assented,  "  a  generation  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  given  over  to  statistics ; 
and  yet  how  many  dreamers  there 
were  !  ' 

"  Yes,  but  in  the  twentieth  century 
a  young  man  dreamed  dreams  and  saw 
visions  at  his  own  risk.  While  he 
dreamed  of  the  brotherhood  of  man, 
his  classmate  with  the  corporation  prac 
tice  distanced  him  in  the  pursuit  of  po 
sition.  While  he  led  himself  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  temptation, 
and  feared  no  evil  because  of  the 
Madonna  vision  in  his  soul,  even  the 
Madonnas  preferred  Lancelot  and 
Tristram  to  Galahad.  It  was  n  't  an 
easy  world  for  a  man  who  wanted  to 
keep  faith  with  himself.  It  was  a 
pinchbeck  world,  of  pretence  and  pull, 
—  that  world  that  lies  drowned  out 
there.  And  yet  I  believe  it  was  infi- 


The  Master-Knot      217 

nitely  better  than  the  lost  Atlantis,  bet 
ter  than  the  deluged  planet  of  Noah, 
nobler  and  finer  than  the  best  civiliza 
tion  of  which  we  have  any  trace.  I 
never  despaired  of  it,  and  yet  as  I  grew 
older  I  wondered  if  I  was  not  foolish 
and  mistaken  in  daring  to  hope  and  to 
dream/' 

"  I  know,"  she  said  again.  "  I 
think  I  did  despair,  for  it  seemed  to 
me  a  dreadful,  a  terrible  world.  I 
used  to  wonder  how  conscientious  men 
and  women  could  bring  other  human 
beings  into  it,  to  be  and  to  suffer  and 
to  faint  in  the  frantic  struggle  for  the 
unrealities  that  made  us  miserable  or 
happy.  Consider  how  paltry  they 
were.  If  we  built  a  new  house,  we 
were  infinitely  more  concerned  to  see 
that  the  contractor  used  pressed  brick 
than  we  were  to  see  that  the  construc 
tion  of  our  own  characters  was  true. 


2i8       The  Master-Knot 

When  we  grew  wealthy  we  moved 
into  houses  of  more  stories ;  but  how 
often  did  we  say :  '  Build  thee  more 
stately  mansions,  O  my  soul '  ?  I  had 
as  clean  and  strong  a  heritage  as  you, 
but  a  different  one.  It  is  no  use 
to  comfort  oneself  with  nice  little 
aphorisms  about  the  needle's  eye,  and 
saws  about  filthy  lucre,  and  telling 
God's  estimate  of  money  from  the 
kind  of  people  He  gives  it  to;  I  tell 
you  biting  poverty  is  a  terrible  thing, 
an  unspeakable  thing.  It  is  a  misfor 
tune  for  a  child  to  grow  up  under  a 
sense  of  injustice.  I  used  to  have  times 
of  revolt  against  it  all,  when  I  hated 
with  the  blind,  ferocious  hate  of  a 
child,  and  I  saw  what  David  never 
saw,  —  the  righteous  forsaken,  and  his 
seed  begging,  not  bread,  but  a  chance 
to  earn  his  bread,  and  begging  for  it 
without  being  able  to  make  just  terms. 


The  Master-Knot      219 

I  saw  my  home  sold  under  the  sher 
iff's  hammer,  and  my  parents  struggle 
all  their  lives  because  of  the  lack  of 
money,  when  they  had  everything  else, 
nobility,  character,  truth,  and  edu 
cation.  My  girlhood  was  a  long  series 
of  going-withouts.  Finally  I  married 
a  man  who  promised  me  everything. 
Ah,  well,  when  has  the  Apple  of 
Sodom  failed  to  deceive  the  eye  and 
undeceive  the  tongue  ?  At  least  he 
did  care  for  my  voice,  and  through 
that  I  learned  that  all  those  years  I  had 
carried  in  my  own  throat  the  golden 
notes  to  have  altered  everything,  and  I 
sang  a  little  gladness  into  my  parents' 
lives  before  they  ended,  thank  God." 

"  How  did  you  come  to  sing  in 
opera  ?  Do  not  tell  me  if  the  recollec 
tion  is  unpleasant.  I  wondered  then." 

"Because  after — after  things  went 
wrong,  I  could  not  take  his  money. 


22O      The  Master-Knot 

I  knew  how  to  sing,  and  I  loved  it; 
but  even  there  it  was  the  same  story 
of  suspicion  and  jealousy,  till  it  seemed 
to  me  that  hate  and  fear  ruled  the 
world.  I  went  to  so  many,  many 
cities,  but  there  was  no  city  beautiful, 
and  in  all  the  country  I  found  no 
Arcady.  I  had  money  then,  it  is  true ; 
but  the  jingle  of  the  guinea  does  n't 
help  the  artist  who  sings,  or  paints,  or 
writes,  or  plays,  because  God  has  put 
it  into  his  soul  to  do  this  thing;  at 
least  not  after  the  very  first,  when  it 
stands  as  a  tangible  assurance  of  sue- 
cess.  The  cities  were  '  cities  of  dread 
ful  night/  and  awful  days;  there  were 
places  that  were  not  hives,  but  styes  of 
human  beings,  fighting  for  what  they 
called  life,  to  die,  never  having  lived. 
Sometimes  I  went  into  those  jungles 
of  civilization  and  sang  to  them.  It 
was  the  only  thing  I  could  give  them 


The  Master-Knot      221 

all.  It  was  there  I  got  my  lesson.  I 
had  been  singing  '  All  Tears/  when 
an  old  woman  said  in  her  feeble, 
trembling  voice,  *  Ye  mun  loe  us, 
young  leddy,  to  come  to  sic  a  place 
an'  sing  o'  Him  wha  sa  loed  the  warld 
that  He  sent  His  only  begotten  Son 
ta  it,  for  it 's  only  great  loe  that  casts 
out  fear,  and  this  is  a  fearsome  spot/ 
Since  then  I  have  n't  hated  anything, 
except  wanton  cruelty,  and  I  know 
love  rules  when  it  is  fearless,  but  that 
is  very  seldom.  We  were  afraid  to 
say,  I  love  you,  to  anything  more  sen 
sitive  than  a  stray  kitten,  though  the 
world  has  hungered  and  thirsted  after 
the  love  we  have  feared  to  give  even 
to  our  own  children.  And  yet  just 
the  love  a  man  and  woman  may  bear 
each  other,  unconsciously,  is  enough 
to  transform  the  earth.  We  have  not 
been  cross  to  each  other ;  I  do  not 


222       The  Master-Knot 

believe  we  have  spoken  unkindly  to 
anything  this  year/' 

He  drew  her  into  his  arms.  "  Is  it 
enough  to  regenerate  the  earth  ? " 

"  And  keep  it  regenerated  ? "  she 
echoed.  "  Do  you  know  ?  " 

"  Do  you  remember  telling  me, 
long  ago,  of  a  story  in  which  the 
woman  said  she  had  never  seen  but 
one  man  whose  mother  she  would  be 
willing  to  be  ?  And  you  said  you  felt 
so  about  me  ?  I  was  very  proud  of  it 
then,  but  I  am  prouder  of  it  now, 
since,  feeling  so,  you  cannot  be  unwil 
ling  to  be  the  mother  of  my  children. 
You  are  not,  are  you  ? " 

She  nestled  a  little  closer  to  him,  and 
put  her  hand  about  his  neck.  He 
stooped  and  kissed  it,  and  repeated  his 
question. 

"Unwilling?  No;  how  could  I 
be  ?  I  never  dreaded  maternity  except 


The  Master- Knot      223 

when  —  and  that  lasted  such  a  little 
while.  I  do  not  dread  it  now.  It 
seems  to  me  it  would  be  a  blessed 
thing  for  us.  But,  Adam,  Adam,  tell 
me,  for  I  have  sat  here  all  day  asking 
myself,  whether  it  is  a  blessed  thing 
to  be  born,  or  a  penalty  that  others 
pay." 

"  I  think  it  would  be  a  blessing  to 
be  your  son/'  he  said  steadily. 

"And  I  think  it  would  be  a  bene 
diction  to  be  yours,"  she  answered; 
"but  he  would  not  be  yours  nor  mine, 
but  ours,  plus  everything  in  the  past, 
verily  heir  of  all  the  ages,  and  the 
ages  were  full  of  pain  and  sorrow. 
Oh,"  she  said  passionately,  "  could 
you  and  I  who  love  him  so,  this  son 
who  is  only  our  wish,  could  you  and  I 
who  know  the  weight  of  this  weary 
world,  bind  it  upon  the  shoulders  of 
our  baby  boy,  and  send  him  stagger- 


224      The  Master-Knot 

ing  down  the  centuries,  the  new  Atlas 
of  this  old  earth?'' 

They  sat  in  silence  for  a  long  time. 
Then  Adam  said  slowly,  "  I  don't 
know,  dearest ;  but  I  do  know  that 
you  are  tired  and  hungry,  and  I  am 
going  to  take  you  home." 

They  rose  and  disappeared  through 
the  gateway  together. 


XVII 

Love  gives  us  a  sort  of  religion    of  our 
own ;  we  respect  another  life  in  ourselves. 

BALZAC. 


ROBIN  was  shelling  peas. 
Adam  was  reading  her  the 
story  of  their  deluge.  He 
paused,  dissatisfied,  and  said  impa 
tiently,  — 

"  I  have  not  described  it  at  all.  I 
have  said  all  I  had  to  say  in  less  than  a 
thousand  words  ;  one  would  think  such 
a  scene  deserved  a  hundred  thousand." 

Robin  smiled  her  little  inscrutable 
smile.  "I  think  you  have  done  it 
very  well.  It  is  n't  intended  to  be 
scientific.  You  haven't  told  all  the 
strata  that  were  turned  skyward  for  a 
moment  when  that  crevasse  opened 
between  us  and  the  town.  You  will 
find,  if  you  turn  to  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis,  that  there  is  very  little  detail ; 
but  I  am  sure  that  the  one  line,  '  He 


228      The  Master-Knot 

made  the  stars  also/  is  as  eloquent  as  a 
treatise  on  the  nebular  theory.  If  you 
were  learned  in  geology  and  astronomy 
and  so  on,  you  would  load  it  down  with 
an  avalanche  of  scientific  hypotheses, 
about  which  you  would  really  know 
nothing,  except  by  deduction,  and  over 
which  future  scientists  would  wrangle, 
part  of  them  making  you  a  god,  and 
the  rest  proving  you  a  fool.  Be  con 
tent  to  '  climb  where  Moses  stood/  and 
produce  literature." 

"  c  Why  should  an  author  fret  about 

The  judgment  of  posterity  ? 
It  is  not,  and  it  never  was, 

And  it,  perhaps,  may  never  be,'  " 

quoted  Adam,  cynically.  "I  wonder 
what  they  will  call  us,  Robin,  and  who 
will  lecture  on  my  mistakes  in  seven  or 
eight  thousand  years,  and  show  how  it 
never  could  have  happened.  Do  you 
suppose  there  is  any  one  else  on  earth  ? 


The  Master-Knot      229 

Did  the  Atlantis  people  leave  any 
literature  behind  them  ?" 

Robin  shook  her  head.  "  Who 
really  knows  ?  God  has  not  left  Him 
self  without  a  witness,  at  any  time.  In 
some  way  the  story  of  creation  has 
gone  on  and  on.  Every  nation  has  its 
Eden  and  flood  and  Saviour.  Esther 
was  the  first,  I  think,  to  have  her  wish 
granted  *  even  to  the  half  of  my  king 
dom/  and  all  the  fairy  stories  since 
have  borrowed  the  phrase.  Cinderella 
is  almost  as  old  as  Job ;  and  the  Irish, 
the  Fenians,  claim  that  Cadmus,  the 
Phoenician,  was  one  of  their  forebears. 
Wide  as  race  distinctions  were,  there 
were  strange  and  almost  unaccountable 
similarities." 

She  went  indoors  to  see  to  her  bak 
ing,  and  coming  back  went  on  with 
her  work.  Adam  watched  her  silently 
for  awhile,  and  then  said  curiously,  "  I 


230      The  Master-Knot 

wonder  what  you  have  missed  most 
this  year?" 

"  Pins  and  needles,  and  until  Christ 
mas,  books  and  shoes  and  stockings  and 
sugar  and  a  cook-stove  and  a  piano/' 
answered  Robin,  promptly.  "  I  can 
live  without  the  opera  and  a  telephone, 
but  if  you  only  knew  how  I  cherish 
my  stock  of  pins,  and  with  what  dread 
I  look  forward  to  the  day  when,  like  a 
poor  white  trash  family  I  used  to  know, 
I  shall  refer  to  the  needle.  I  used  to 
think  you  could  do  anything  with  a 
pair  of  pliers  and  a  bit  of  wire,  but  I 
tremble  lest  you  may  not  be  able  to 
compass  a  needle."  She  looked  up, 
and  seeing  Adam's  troubled  face  said 
quickly,  "  Forgive  me  for  being  frivo 
lous  ;  I  am  so  happy,  I  can't  help  it. 
What  were  you  thinking  of,  Adam  ?  " 

He  got  up  and  walked  away  a  few 
yards,  and  cut  one  of  the  long  thick 


The  Master-Knot      231 

yucca  leaves,  and  stripped  it  down  to 
the  central  spine,  while  he  went  on 
speaking  to  her.  "  I  was  thinking/' 
he  said,  "  of  what  Mill  said  about 
inventions,  and  how  they  had  n't  helped 
the  laboring  man  ;  that  they  had 
neither  decreased  his  number  of  work 
ing  hours,  nor  increased  his  comforts, 
and  wondering  whether  it  would  be 
better  for  a  new  race  to  find  an  electric 
light  plant  alongside  their  other  plants, 
or  whether  they  would  better  work  out 
their  own  salvation,  a  little  at  a  time, 
by  main  strength  and  awkwardness.  I 
was  thinking  how  strange  our  books 
would  seem  to  men  and  women  who 
knew  nothing  of  the — the  late  earth." 
He  held  out  to  her  what  looked 
something  like  a  needle  threaded  with 
coarse  white  linen  thread.  "  Will  your 
Majesty  deign  to  look  at  this  ? " 

She  took  it,  and  looked  at  it  wonder- 


232      The  Master-Knot 

ingly,  and  then  ran  in  and  brought 
back  a  torn  towel,  and  began  mending 
it.  "Why,  it  sews  very  well,"  she 
said  ;  "  who  taught  you  that  ?  " 

"  The  mother  of  inventions  gener 
ally,"  he  answered.  "  If  you  ever  had 
gone  on  the  round-up,  you  might  have 
had  occasion  for  a  needle  and  thread 
when  there  was  n't  any  nearer  than  a 
hundred  miles.  But  you  have  n't  an 
swered  my  question." 

"  About  inventions  and  so  on  ?  It 
seems  to  me  you  have  to  consider  the 
raison  d'etre  of  a  people  before  you  can 
tell  the  answer.  What  is  the  use  of 
labor-saving  inventions,  if  the  time 
saved  is  n't  of  some  great  value  ?  What 
is  to  be  the  chief  end  of  man  in  a 
dispensation  that  has  no  catechism  as  a 
guide-post  ?  " 

"  A  very  different  end  from  the  old 
one,"  answered  Adam,  half  sternly. 


The  Master-Knot      233 

"Work  should  not  come  to  him  as  a 
curse,  nor  as  his  greatest  boon  ;  at  least, 
not  hard,  manual  labor.  There  should 
be  work  enough  to  insure  ease  and  com 
fort,  and  every  one  should  work  freely  and 
gladly.  I  should  educate  the  individual ; 
he  should  be  strong  of  body  and  keen  of 
mind,  and  should  feel  that  his  talents 
were  given  him  for  use,  not  for  con 
cealment  ;  he  should  use  his  hands, 
both  of  them,  and  find  delight  in  their 
work.  It  is  a  beautiful  world,  it  always 
was,  but  I  don't  know  that  the  steam- 
engine  brought  men's  souls  closer  to 
gether,  or  that  the  electric  light  let  in 
any  more  radiance  upon  our  minds,  or 
that  the  great  telescopes  made  heaven 
any  nearer.  It  should  be  a  happier  and 
a  healthier  world,  if  it  was  no  more." 

"Adam,"  she  said  abruptly,  "if  we 
had  children,  in  what  religious  faith 
would  you  bring  them  up  ?" 


234      The  Master- Knot 

"  I  don't  know  ;  I  never  thought 
about  it  very  much,"  he  answered 
honestly.  "  I  have  an  ideal  in  my 
mind,  but  I  can't  explain  it.  I  believe 
in  one  source  of  life,  and  therefore  a 
common  divinity." 

Robin  laughed  quietly.  "That  is 
like  the  Hindoo  proverb,  *  That  which 
exists  is  one;  sages  call  it  variously.' 
That  has  been  called  pantheism,  and 
for  that  belief  the  Jews  expelled  Baruch 
Benedict  Spinoza  from  their  synagogue. 
In  our  time  there  was  a  very  learned 
magazine  published  in  its  behalf,  and 
I  heard  David  Starr  Jordan  say  no  man 
could  tell  whether  it  was  a  mere  jargon 
of  words,  meaningless  and  empty,  or 
whether  monism  was  the  profoundest 
philosophy  the  world  has  ever  known." 

"I  don't  care  what  you  call  it,"  said 
Adam,  stoutly.  "  I  am  not  afraid  of 
names,  and  I  don't  know  anything 


The  Master-Knot      235 

about  any  of  those  religions,  pantheism, 
Spinozaism,  or  monism  ;  but  I  do 
know  I  would  rather  a  child  of  mine 
saw  God  in  everything  than  that  he 
saw  God  in  nothing  save  his  own  nar 
row  creed.  I  would  rather  he  was  a 
pantheist  than  a  Calvinist.  Spinoza 
never  burned  any  one,  did  he,  nor 
preached  that  hell  was  paved  with 
infants'  skulls  ?  " 

Robin  clapped  her  hands  and 
laughed  again.  "  I  beg  your  pardon 
for  laughing,"  she  said,  "  but  the  idea 
of  Spinoza,  the  '  God-intoxicated  man/ 
presiding  over  an  auto-da-fe  is  too 
absurd.  If  you  only  remembered  any 
thing  about  his  gentle,  retiring  spirit 
and  melancholy  life ;  I  think  he  was 
better  known  in  our  time  than  in  his 
own,  but  his  philosophy  does  not  sat 
isfy  me.  I  am  willing  to  grant  the 
identity  of  life,  and  its  divine  possi- 


236      The  Master-Knot 

bilities,  but  I  cannot  worship  it  as  life 
itself,  a  mere  manifestation  of  nature. 
I  know  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
living  rock,  and  that  it  may  be  killed 
by  a  bolt  of  lightning  as  readily  as  a 
tree ;  but  this  does  not  make  it  any 
more  worthy  of  worship  than  I  am, 
and  that  is  terribly  unworthy.  The 
rock  and  I  are  types  of  life,  stages  in 
the  development  of  life,  but  for  my 
child  there  must  be  something  better. 
For  the  child  I  must  lay  hold  on  the 
everlasting  life;  I  must  find  the  rock 
that  is  higher  than  I.  I  do  not  know 

of  anv   manifestation    of    that    life   so 
j 

great,  so  godlike,  and  so  lovable  as  His 
who  said,  'I  am  the  way,  the  truth, 
and  the  life/  " 

"  But  surely  you  do  not  believe  in 
the  Immaculate  Conception  ?  "  asked 
Adam,  incredulously. 

"  I  don't  care  anything  about  it,  one 


The  Master-Knot      237 

way  or  the  other.  It 's  the  immacu 
late  life  that  concerns  me.  As  you 
said  yourself  a  few  minutes  ago,  words 
cannot  frighten  me.  Am  I  going  to 
stand  carping,  '  Can  any  good  come 
out  of  Nazareth  ? '  What  do  I  care  if 
it  comes  out  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
if  it  is  good? " 

"  But  you  surely  don't  believe  in  the 
miracles  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Surely  I  do,  in  some  of  them  at 
least.  I  have  seen  a  miracle  or  so  my 
self.  Besides,  if  you  remember  the 
greatest  proof  He  gave  was  that  the 
gospel  was  preached  to  the  poor. 
Buddha  was  a  prince ;  he  whom  the 
Jews  expected  was  to  reign  as  a  king. 
What  a  fall  was  there  !  the  gospel  of 
hope  and  joy  was  brought  to  the  chil 
dren  of  Gibeon,  the  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water.  The  love  of 
Christ  has  wrought  greater  miracles 


238      The  Master- Knot 

than  He  did.  Look  at  the  arena  in 
Rome.  Look  at  the  whole  countless 
army  of  martyrs.  When  Mrs.  Booth 
died,  the  eighty  thousand  women  that 
nightly  walked  the  streets  of  Lon 
don  rebelled,  and  for  once  the  long 
aisles  of  brick  and  stone  were  swept 
clean  of  that  awful  arraignment  of  civ 
ilization.  That  was  more  of  a  miracle 
than  satisfying  three  thousand  souls 
with  food.  At  least,  it 's  enough  of  a 
miracle  for  me/' 

The  tears  came  into  her  eyes,  and 
she  gathered  up  her  pans  and  went 
into  the  house. 


XVIII 

Are  God  and  Nature  then  at  strife, 

'That  Nature  lends  such  evil  dreams? 
So  careful  of  the  type  she  seems, 

So  careless  of  the  single  life : 

So  careful  of  the  type  ?  but  no. 

From  scarped  cliff  and  quarried  stone 
She  cries,  "A  thousand  types  are  gone: 

I  care  for  nothing,  all  shall  go." 

TENNYSON. 


THEY    were     sitting    in    the 
doorway    together.       Robin 
rested  her  chin  in  her  hands 
and  looked  down  the  valley,  the  lines 
of  perplexity  deepening  in   her   fore 
head. 

"If  only  we  had  an  angel  with  a 
sword,  or  without  one,  to  tell  us  what 
to  do/'  she  said.  "  If  only  we  were 
deeply  religious  with  the  old-fashioned 
orthodox  religion,  that  would  enable 
us  to  believe  we  were  predestined  not 
to  be  drowned  — " 

"  Or  if  we  believed  in  a  personal 
God,  without  whom  not  a  sparrow 
falleth,  though  the  waters  cover  the 
face  of  the  earth  and  blot  out  millions 
of  His  creatures,"  answered  Adam. 

16 


242      The  Master-Knot 

"  After  all,  can  we  do  better  than  fol 
low  the  dictates  of  Nature?'' 

"  Do  you  mean  to  look  through  Na 
ture  up  to  Nature's  God  ?  "  answered 
Robin.  "  How  can  we  worship  any 
God  as  pitiless  as  Nature  ?  Nature  is 
strong,  but  is  it  our  place  to  help  her 
in  her  care  for  the  single  type  ?  Per 
haps  we  are  the  trilobites  of  a  new 
Silurian  period;  well,  trilobites  were 
painfully  common,  but  we  need  not 
be.  Nature's  laws  are  immutable,  so 
we  have  been  told  with  wearying 
insistence,  but  suppose  you  and  I  have 
wills  as  strong  as  Nature  herself? 
Suppose  we  ask  what  she  has  done  for 
the  humanity  of  which  we  are  a  part, 
that  she  should  demand  fresh  victims 
from  us  ?  Oh,  I  know ;  you  will  tell 
me,  — 

"  'What  a  piece  of  work  is  a  man  !  How 
noble  in  reason  !  how  infinite  in  faculty  ! 


The  Master-Knot      243 

in  form  and  moving  how  express  and 
admirable  !  in  action  how  like  an  angel  ! 
in  apprehension  how  like  a  god  ! ' 

"  And  I  should  answer,  — 

" c  What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful 
of  him  ?  and  the  son  of  man  that  thou 
visitest  him  ?  For  thou  hast  made  him  a  lit 
tle  lower  than  the  angels,  and  hast  crowned 
him  with  glory  and  honor.' 

"  David  or  Hamlet,  it  comes  to  the 
same  thing.  Where  are  the  crowns 
now,  and  how  can  we  say  Solomon 
was  not  right  when  he  said  the  end 
of  it  all  was  vanity  ?  What  is  Nature, 
and  on  what  compulsion  must  we 
obey  her  ?  The  imperative  mandates 
of  our  own  hearts  ?  But  what  if  our 
hearts  are  at  war  with  our  heads? 
Are  we  to  follow  no  higher  law  than 
the  blind  instinct  that  moves  the  house 
fly  ?  Or  will  we  aspire  to  the  indom- 


244      The  Master-Knot 

itable  soul  of  the  mocking-birds  that 
feed  their  young  in  captivity  until 
they  see  they  are  prisoners  for  life, 
and  then  bring  them  poisonous  spiders 
that  they  may  die  rather  than  live 
under  such  conditions  ?  Shall  we  give 
hostages  to  Nature  when  she  has  given 
nothing  to  us  ?" 

She  was  standing  now  and  speaking 
with  more  vehemence  than  was  her 
wont.  Adam  caught  her  hands,  as 
she  flung  them  out  with  a  gesture  full 
of  scorn. 

"  Do  you  really  think  we  have  noth 
ing?  How  many  million  lovers  have 
envied  Adam  and  Eve  their  paradise  ? 
This  Nature  against  which  you  bring 
so  railing  an  accusation,  —  has  she 
taken  away  more  than  she  has  given 
us  ?  We  had  ambitions,  you  and  I, 
but  the  way  of  ambition  is  full  of 
weariness  and  disappointment  and  bit- 


The  Master-Knot      245 

terness  of  spirit.  We  did  not  expect 
peace  and  comfort  and  joy,  but  work 
and  turmoil.  Our  slates  were  set  with 


a  sum  — " 


"Yes,  a  sum  in  vulgar  fractions/' 
answered  Robin. 

"Perhaps;  it  was  a  sum  in  which 
the  unknown  and  unknowable  quan 
tity  determined  the  result.  We  had 
seen  a  good  deal  of  what  is  called  life, 

—  it  is  a  good  name  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  death  it  so  much  resembles, 

—  and   I   am    half  inclined  to   think 
Nature  has  been  merciful." 

"But  if  she  was  merciful  to  them," 
said  Robin,  quickly,  "  why  were  we 
omitted  ?" 

"  She  gave  them  oblivion,  the  here 
after,  whatever  comes  hereafter.  She 
gave  us  each  other.  We  were  going 
to  miss  one  another  in  the  careers  we 
had  mapped  out.  We  might  have 


246      The  Master-Knot 

lost  each  other  forever,  or  for  asons  of 
years.  Nothing  but  a  general  break 
ing  up  of  everything  would  ever  have 
flung  us  into  each  other's  arms.  We 
were  too  much  interested  in  my 
career,  my  vast  influence  on  the  politi 
cal  situation,  to  consider  any  existence 
apart  from  the  setting  we  had  chosen 
for  the  play.  And,  after  all,  what  was 
it,  that  career  from  which  we  hoped 
so  much  ?  I  stood  waiting  my  cue, 
ready  to  act  my  part  in  the  farce  or 
tragedy,  whichever  it  turned  out  to 
be/' 

"  I  think  it  was  more  like  a  circus," 
said  Robin. 

"  Very  like  a  circus,"  he  admitted 
with  grim  appreciation.  "  A  circus 
in  which  no  one  knew  whether  he  was 
to  be  a  ringmaster  or  a  clown.  There 
were  the  financial  tight-rope  walkers, 
and  the  social  lion-tamers,  and  snake- 


The  Master-Knot      247 

charmers,  and  the  political  acrobats 
whose  falls  were  unsoftened  by  any 
kind  of  network.  There  were  heat 
and  dust  and  discomfort,  and  weary, 
wretched  animals  looking  out  of  cages 
at  other  weary,  tortured  animals,  that 
were  sometimes  scarcely  less  pachyder 
matous  than  themselves.  I  know  the 
program  we  had  mapped  out,  the  tri 
umphal  entry,  the  daring  leaps,  the 
cheers,  —  but  was  it  worth  while  ? 
After  all,  does  one  care  to  be  the 
champion  bareback  rider  in  life's  hip 
podrome  ?  Nature  swept  away  my 
sawdust  ring,  but  she  gave  me  heaven 
for  a  canopy,  earth  for  an  arena,  you 
for  a  queen.  At  times  I  am  disposed 
to  take  a  fatalist  view  of  the  case,  and 
think  that  God,  or  Nature,  knew  there 
was  no  more  to  be  done  with  the 
earth,  not  so  much  because  of  its 
wickedness,  as  on  account  of  its  stu- 


248      The  Master-Knot 

pidity  and  cruelty.  All  my  plans  had 
centered  in  a  political  career,  and  yet 
how  could  a  man  touch  politics  and 
remain  undefiled  ?  Yes,  I  know  there 
were  honorable  men  in  politics,  but 
they  were  lonely,  and  they  hated  with 
an  unspeakable  hatred  all  the  means 
that  were  used  to  keep  them  there. 
And  there  were  any  number  of  men 
who  had  been  honorable  once.  When 
a  man  becomes  possessed  by  the  desire 
of  place,  his  backbone  becomes  elastic, 
and  he  stoops  to  things  of  which  he 
had  believed  himself  incapable.  I 
don't  know  what  it  is,  but  it  weakens 
a  man's  moral  fibre,  and  breaks  down 
the  tissues  of  his  will,  and  gives  him 
mental  astigmatism.  How  dare  I  say 
I  should  have  been  any  better  than  the 
rest  ?  " 

"  Do  you  remember   your    address, 
a  year  ago  Flag  Day,  and  the  old  man 


The  Master-Knot      249 

with  the  little  bronze  button  of  the 
Civil  War  veteran,  who  stood  in  front, 
and  shook  hands  with  you  afterwards, 
with  tears  running  down  his  face  ? 
And  the  applause  ?  Can  you  honestly 
say  that  you  find  '  to  utter  love  more 
sweet  than  praise '  ?  You  have  told 
me  of  your  dream  of  a  home,  but 
Emerson  said,  '  not  even  a  home  in 
the  heart  of  one  we  love  can  satisfy 
the  awful  soul  that  dwells  in  clay/ 
Can  it  satisfy  you,  who  hoped  and 
expected  so  much?'3 

He  hesitated  and  did  not  reply  at 
once. 

"  Are  you  sure  you  are  not  making 
a  virtue  of  necessity  ? "  she  asked  a 
little  bitterly. 

"  I  think  as  much  as  anything,'1  he 
said  slowly,  "  I  was  excusing  myself 
for  not  having  known  all  along  that 
the  real  life,  and  the  most  useful  one,  is 


250      The  Master-Knot 

the  one  we  could  have  made  together. 
Principalities  and  powers  and  empires 
and  republics  have  fallen.  When  God 
wants  to  regenerate  the  world,  He  be 
gins  with  the  family.  Now  /,"  with 
unspeakable  scorn,  —  "  /  intended  to 
begin  with  a  different  primary  law. 
I  could  have  made  a  good  home,  but 
I  was  intent  on  making  an  indifferent, 
honest  congressman,  or  senator,  or  per 
haps  president.  In  a  way  your  home 
always  meant  a  good  deal  of  what  I 
am  trying  to  say.  You  always  had 
some  one  on  hand  you  were  trying  to 
make  capable  of  great  things  by  believ 
ing  in  them.  You  made  us  welcome, 
and  were  ready  to  listen  to  our  troubles, 
our  literary  curiosities,  our  musical 
gems  and  our  aspirations.  Suppose  I 
had  had  sense  enough  to  refuse  the 
husks  and  choose  —  " 

"  Don't     say     it,"     she     answered. 


The  Master- Knot      251 

"  Don't  say  it,  even  if  you  mean  it, 
for  I  should  have  sent  you  away,  and 
have  felt  like  reviling  you  for  putting 
your  hand  to  the  plow  and  turning 
back.  Your  ambitions  were  the  most 
attractive  thing  about  you  then.  I 
had  n't  pinned  my  faith  on  a  primary 
law;  I  think  it  was  government 
ownership  that  I  regarded  as  the 
great  regenerator.  I  am  glad  if  my 
home  seemed  homelike  to  any  one ;  it 
never  reached  my  ideal ;  and  when  a 
woman's  home  is  n't  the  hub  of  her 
universe,  —  well,  she  takes  to  china 
painting,  or  gossip,  or  philanthropy ; 
a  man  takes  to  poker  or  politics.  I 
took  to  politics,  second-hand.  Per 
sonally  and  concretely  I  abhorred  the 
whole  miserable  farce,  but  abstractly, 
and  as  a  means  to  an  end  which  I 
greatly  desired,  I  found  it  interesting. 
I  admired  you  infinitely  more  than 


252       The  Master-Knot 

I     liked     you    in    those    days,    but    I 
wouldn't  have  married  you  under  any 


circumstances." 


"  Why  ?  " 

"  First,  because  I  did  n't  want  to 
marry  any  one;  I  didn't  want  to  care 
that  much.  And,  secondly,  because  I 
wanted  you  to  devote  yourself  to 
your  country,  and  had  you  possessed  a 
family  your  devotion  would  have  been 
divided.  I  don't  see,"  she  went  on 
reflectively,  "  how  you,  who  know  so 
well  how  empty  it  all  was,  and  how 
hopeless  the  endeavor  to  lift  it  an 
inch,  —  I  don't  see  how  you  can 
think  anything  would  justify  us  in 
making  it  go  on." 

"  But,  on  the  other  hand,"  he  said, 
"  are  we  justified  in  snuffing  it  all 
out  ?  There  was  so  much  that  was 
beautiful,  and  the  possibilities  were  so 
glorious!  Sweetheart,  I  shall  not  be- 


The  Master-Knot       253 

lieve  you  love  me  if  you  think  the 
world  all  cold  and  dark.  I  believe 
now  the  one  law  it  needs,  or  has  ever 
needed,  is  love,  the  fulfilling  of  the 
law/' 

Robin  shook  her  head,  and  there 
was  a  pathetic  quiver  about  her  sensi 
tive  mouth.  "  Is  it  so  ?  We  have 
sung,  '  'T  is  love,  it  makes  the  world 
turn  round/  but  is  it  so  ?  Would 
you  give  your  world  that  one  great 
principle  as  the  whole  of  its  code  of 
laws  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  would,"  he  answered  sturd 
ily.  "  I  should  not  revive  a  single 
law,  not  even  the  Ten  Commandments, 
nor  any  of  their  variations.  You  have 
to  read  the  statutes  provided  for  un- 
namable  crimes  to  understand  just 
how  bad  mankind  could  be.  I  should 
not  bother  my  world  with  Draco,  or 
Solon,  or  Justinian,  or  Coke,  or  Black- 


254      The  Master-Knot 

stone.  I  should  give  it  the  code  of 
Christ,  'Whatsoever  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even 
so  unto  them/  To  love  one  's  neigh 
bor  as  oneself,  —  is  n't  that  code 
enough  for  any  world  ?  And  I 
should  make  the  neighbor  include 
every  dumb  creature." 

She  turned  to  him,  her  face  radiant 
with  love  and  trust. 

"  There  is  no  difference  between  us 
in  reality,"  she  said:  "you  would 
found  your  political  economy  on  the 
teachings  of  Christ,  and  I  my  religion. 
If  we  realize  the  unity  of  life,  we 
must  make  our  religion  our  law,  and 
our  law  our  religion.  Sometimes  I 
think  the  hand  of  the  Lord  is  in  it, 
for  surely,  surely,  there  never  was  a 
nobler  man  on  earth  than  you." 


XIX 

For  the  race  is  run   by  one  and  one  and 
never  by  two  and  two. 

KIPLING. 


"  "!• '^^O  you  remember  the  name 
P         •    of  that    man  we  knew," 
M     J    said  Adam  one  day,  "who 
wrote  a  book  to  prove  the  immortality 
of  the  body  ?    He  did  prove  that  various 
people  had  lived  well   on  to  two  hun 
dred  years.      If  we  were  sure  of  that, 
we    might    get    the    earth  very  fairly 
started." 

Robin  laughed.  "  We  are  not  ap 
parently  growing  any  older,"  she 
said ;  "  but  we  can  hardly  count  on 
more  than  a  hundred  years  each." 

"  There  is  one  thing  you  have  n't 
taken  into  consideration,"  said  Adam. 
"  Our  children  would  be  several  thou 
sand  years  ahead  of  the  original  chil 
dren  of  the  Garden  ;  they  would  be 
further  along  than  you  and  I  in  a 
good  many  ways." 
17 


258      The  Master-Knot 

"  No,"  she  said,  "  I  have  n't  for 
gotten,  but  I  do  not  know  how  much 
of  a  load  they  would  bring  with  them 
into  the  world.  We  called  it  he 
redity,  the  Hindoos  called  it  karma, 
and,  though  that  is  different,  educators 
called  it  the  recapitulation  theory." 

Adam  shook  his  head.  "I  under 
stand  heredity,"  he  said,  "  but  karma 
and  recapitulation  are  too  much  for 


me." 


"Karma  is  our  heritage  from  former 
existences,"  she  answered,  "  that  may 
have  been  lived  here  or  elsewhere.  It 
is  the  sum  of  our  past,  good  and  bad. 
It  is  based  on  a  belief  in  reincarnation, 
and  it  is  the  law  that  whatsoever  a 
man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap. 
It  is  justice  untempered  by  mercy, 
and  it  is  at  variance  with  the  doctrine 
of  vicarious  atonement,  though  one 
may  believe  it  and  worship  Christ  as 


The  Master-Knot      259 

the  highest  type  of  love  the  world  has 
ever  known.  Naturally,  it  does  not 
appeal  to  the  people  who  are  willing 
to  let  some  one  bear  the  cross  for  them, 
and  yet  I  have  wondered  whether,  if 
we  were  sure  we  should  not  gather 
figs  from  thistles,  we  should  sow  the 
thistles  so  freely.  The  recapitulation 
theory  makes  the  child  pass  through 
the  evolutionary  stages  of  the  nation 
or  nations  he  represents.  It  has  a 
kind  of  seven  ages  of  man  of  its  own, 
and  brings  him  down  through  all 
phases,  —  the  savage,  the  hunter,  the 
explorer,  the  conqueror,  the  builder. 
I  don't  pretend  fully  to  understand 
it.  I  heard  one  of  its  ablest  exponents 
say  once,  '  The  soul  of  the  German 
nation  is  in  the  German  boy.'  Hered 
ity  curses  or  blesses,  sometimes  both. 
Before  any  of  these  theories  prospec 
tive  parents  might  well  hesitate." 


260       The  Master-Knot 

"  Which  do  you  believe  ?  "  asked 
Adam,  curiously. 

She  reflected  a  moment.  "  A  little 
of  all  three ;  not  all  of  any  of  them  ; 
one  would  have  to  be  a  profound  student 
to  understand  fully  what  their  adher 
ents  claim  for  them.  Heredity  plays 
strange  freaks  now  and  then.  It  is 
easier  to  account  for  Abraham  Lincoln 
by  the  second  theory  than  by  either 
of  the  others.  His  shiftless,  untidy 
mother  and  commonplace  father  do 
not  explain  such  a  soul  as  his;  nor 
was  there  any  reversion  in  his  child 
hood  to  the  original  savage  instincts 
that  make  children  dismember  grass 
hoppers  —  rather  the  reverse.  I  like 
better  to  think  that,  like  that  other 
Deliverer,  who  was  a  man  of  sor 
rows  and  acquainted  with  grief,  he 
came  to  do  the  will  of  his  and  our 
Father  which  art  in  heaven,  —  came 


The  Master-Knot      261 

gladly,  freely,  knowing  the  end  from 
the  beginning." 

Adam  sat  up  suddenly  and  looked  at 
her  with  startled  eyes.  "  Then  you 
think — you  mean — you  don't  be 
lieve —  surely  you  don't  believe  we 
have  anything  to  do  with  our  coming 
here?" 

She  smiled.  "  Surely  I  do.  Our 
coming  is  sad  enough  when  we  do 
it  voluntarily.  It  would  be  quite  in 
tolerable  to  have  existence  thrust  upon 
us.  Besides,  it  seems  blasphemous  to 
me  to  believe  that  God  has  given 
to  every  human  being  the  power  to 
bestow  an  eternal  existence.  The  re 
sponsibility  is  great  enough  when  it 
is  simply  a  matter  of  so  living  that 
noble  souls  may  seek  to  be  born 
of  us,  and  undertaking  to  give  them 
sound  minds  and  bodies." 

Adam     looked      unconvinced     and 


262      The  Master-Knot 

troubled.  "  Where  on  earth  did  you 
get  all  that  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Well,  it  is  to  my  mind  only  an  elab 
oration  of  Descartes'  *  I  think,  there 
fore  I  am/  I  am,  presupposes  that  I 
have  been,  and  will  be.  If  you  can't 
destroy  one  drop  of  water,  you  can't 
destroy  me.  If  you  drop  the  water 
on  red-hot  iron,  it  instantly  becomes 
an  imperceptible  mist,  the  mere  ghost 
of  itself,  but  it  will  ultimately  become 
fluid  again.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
scientific  fact  gives  a  sound  basis  for 
the  psychologic  probability." 

"  But  think  of  all  the  miserable 
human  beings  born  daily.  Do  you 
think  any  one  would  choose  such 
surroundings  ? " 

"  You  and  I  never  wanted  to  go 
anywhere  badly  enough  to  crowd  our 
selves  under  the  cow-catcher,  or  upon 
the  trucks,  but  there  were  those  who 


The  Master-Knot      263 

did.  We  did  n't  want  to  see  the  parade 
badly  enough  to  stand  on  the  street 
corner  for  hours ;  but  you  worked 
your  way  through  college,  and  we 
have  both  sat  in  the  top  gallery  to 
hear  *  Tannhauser.'  We  were  willing 
to  put  up  with  the  whips  and  scorns, 
which  is  another  way  of  saying  the 
garlic  and  tobacco,  for  the  sake  of  the 
music.  In  any  event  the  experiment 
was  of  brief  duration.  No  one  gets 
more  than  a  fragment  in  an  ordinary 
lifetime." 

"If  you  think  that,"  said  Adam, 
"  I  can't  see  that  there  is  any  respon 
sibility  about  it.  We  should  not 
thrust  life  on  any  one/' 

"  True,"  she  assented.  "  Your  posi 
tion  is  unassailable,  but  still  it  seems 
to  me  the  responsibility  remains.  In 
the  first  place,  granting  that  my  hypoth 
esis  is  true,  how  can  we  tell  whether 


264      The  Master-Knot 

to  live  is  gain  ?  How  do  we  know 
that  the  next  generation  would  be 
better  and  stronger  than  we  are  ? 
Moreover,  I  only  give  this  to  you  as 
my  idea.  I  do  not  say  it  is  true ;  I 
believe  it  to  be  so,  but  I  do  not  know 
anything  whatsoever  about  it.  I  can't 
prove  it,  and  it  may  be  transcendental 
rubbish.  I  rather  imagine  you  think 
it  is." 

"  Not  exactly  that,"  he  said,  color 
ing  and  laughing,  "  but  certainly  it  is 
rather  amazing  when  one  hears  it  for 
the  first  time.  I  daresay  I  shall  come 
to  believe  it  too.  So  far  as  I  can 
see,  you  are  about  as  unorthodox  as 
I  am." 

"  I  have  times  of  relapse,"  she  said. 
"  Then  I  think  we  are  being  tempted 
like  the  first  Adam  and  Eve.  They 
were  commanded  to  multiply  and  reign. 
You  and  I  would  n't  ask  anything 


The  Master-Knot      265 

better,  but  as  a  rule  one's  duty  is  not 
attractive.  It  seems  to  me  just  as 
likely  that  we  are  to  prove  that  the 
lesson  is  learned,  and  a  man  and  woman 
may  love  each  other  unselfishly  and 
nobly,  foregoing  their  own  desires  to 
save  others.  Under  the  old  dispensa 
tion  it  was  said,  '  Greater  love  hath  no 
man  than  this  ;  '  is  it  not  possible 
now  that  the  greatest  love  is  that  which 
lays  down  its  life  untransmitted  ?  If 
Christ  could  pray  that  the  cup  of 
suffering  and  death  might  pass  from 
Him,  dare  we  press  the  bitter  draught 
of  being  to  other  lips  ? " 

"  Dare  we  dash  the  full  goblet  of 
joy  and  opportunity  from  them  ? " 
asked  Adam,  gravely. 

"I  wish  I  knew,"  she  said.  "I 
wish  I  knew  !  " 

"  Have  you  ever  thought  what  it 
will  mean,"  he  said,  "  if  we  adopt  the 


266      The  Master-Knot 

other  alternative  ?  Have  you  thought 
of  the  desolation  and  loneliness  of  grow 
ing  old  and  helpless  and  finally — " 
lie  stopped,  and  she  threw  out  her 
hands  as  if  to  ward  off  the  thoughts  he 
called  before  her. 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes,  I  have  thought,  and 
it  is  terrible.  I  keep  remembering  a 
picture  I  saw  in  the  French  Exhibit. 
It  was  of  a  man  and  a  woman ;  the 
woman  was  dead,  and  he  had  dug  her 
grave,  his  broken  sword  lay  at  his 
side,  and  he  had  wrapped  her  in  his 
coat,  and  begun  to  cover  her  over. 
He  could  not  go  on,  and  knelt,  look 
ing  at  her  with  a  despair  on  his  face 
that  has  haunted  me  ever  since.  The 
name,  Manon  Lescaut,  meant  nothing 
to  me  then,  but  the  story  of  the  pic 
ture  was  enough  by  itself.  All  last 
year  I  kept  seeing  that  terrible  pic 
ture.  Sometimes  it  was  you,  some- 


The  Master-Knot      267 

times  it  was  I,  that  dug  the  grave  and 
went  mad  looking  into  it." 

"  I  should  not  bury  you,"  said 
Adam,  grimly.  "  I  should  carry  you 
to  the  cliff  and  take  you  in  my  arms 
and  jump.  The  sea  is  deep  and  cruel 
there." 

"Sometimes,"  she  hesitated  a  mo 
ment,  then  went  on,  —  "sometimes  I 
think  that  would  be  the  best  way  for 
us  now,  I  mean  if  we  decide  we  have 
no  right  to  be  happy  in  the  old  way  ; 
for  I  should  be  afraid  we  could  not 
always  be  strong." 

"Very  well,"  he  answered;  "when 
we  decide,  it  shall  be  literally  life  or 
death." 


XX 

T'he  ant  and  the  moth  have  cells  for  each 
of  their  young,  but  our  little  ones  lie  in  fes 
tering  heaps  in  homes  that  consume  them  like 
graves  ;  and  night  by  night,  from  the  corners 
of  our  streets,  rises  up  the  cry  of  the  home 
less,  — "  /  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me 
not  in" 

R  US  KIN. 


FOR  a  time  they  busied  them 
selves  with  different  things 
about  their  little  home, 
worked  in  the  garden,  and  held  a 
round-up  of  their  stock  that  they 
might  know  the  extent  of  their 
wealth ;  and  because,  in  a  life  quite 
apart  from  human  beings,  animals 
come  to  take  their  place  to  a  greater 
extent  than  might  seem  possible. 

It  was  a  very  pleasant  time.  Every 
thing  seemed  so  gentle,  so  willing  to 
be  friends,  and  so  certain  of  their 
good-will. 

"  You  used  to  be  a  Kipling  fiend/' 
said  Adam,  one  morning,  when  they 
had  been  salting  the  cattle,  and  were 
resting  before  going  home.  "  Did  n't 
he  write  a  Jungle  tale  about  'How 


272      The  Master-Knot 

Fear  Came'?  He  ought  to  be  here 
now  to  write  another  to  show  how 
Fear  might  go." 

"It  seems  to  me  he  did/'  Robin 
answered,  running  her  fingers  through 
the  short,  curly  forelock  of  a  colt  that 
stood  placidly  licking  her  hand.  "I 
wonder  that  they  don't  remember 
longer,  or  perhaps  they  know  that 
we  think  they  are  folks.  Really,  I 
think  we  ought  to  hold  a  reception, 
a  kind  of  salon,  once  a  week,  so  as  to 
keep  acquainted  with  our  neighbors." 

"  You  are  an  absurd  child,"  he  said, 
laughing  ;  "  but  does  that  mean  that 
you  have  really  decided  to  go  on 
living  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,"  she  said.  "  What 
did  we  determine  ?  By  the  way,  which 
side  of  this  question  are  you  on  ? " 

"Both,"  he  said  decidedly. 

"Oh!   then  we  can't  do  like  those 


The  Master-Knot      273 

men  Cooper  told  about,  in  *  The 
Pioneers/ wasn't  it?  who  argued  and 
argued  every  night  until  at  last  they 
convinced  each  other,  and  then  started 
in  to  argue  it  out  again/' 

"  No,"  he  answered,  "  I  rather  think 
that  we  are  answering  ourselves  rather 
than  each  other,  anyhow.  Robin, 
where  was  'the  land  of  Nod'?" 

"That  is  one  of  the  questions  that 
I  was  sent  to  bed  for  asking  a  preacher 
who  was  visiting  at  our  house,  when 
I  was  about  seven  years  old.  They 
hurried  me  hence  before  he  had  a 
chance  to  answer,  so  I  never  found 
out.  But  I  know  what  you  are  think 
ing  of,  and  I  have  thought  of  it  too. 
Perhaps  there  isn't  any  land  of 
Nod,  or  any  land  at  all.  And  I  have 
thought,  also,  how  it  would  be  if  one 
of  us  died  and  left  the  other  with 

little  children.      You  might  take    my 
18 


274      The  Master- Knot 

body  and  jump  off  the  rock,  but  you 
couldn't  take  them  too,  and  still  less 
could  you  leave  them." 

"I  have  thought  of  the  risk  to 
you,"  he  said,  "and  felt  that  not  even 
for  the  sake  of  a  child  would  I  let 
you  come  so  near  death." 

She  laughed  a  little.  "That  is 
really  funny,"  she  said.  "  You  must 
have  been  reading  Michelet;  I  never 
thought  of  that  at  all.  I  am  very 
well  and  strong,  and  my  habits  and  my 
clothes  are  not  such  as  to  hamper  my 
life  nor  endanger  that  of  another. 
There  is  next  to  no  risk,  so  far  as 
that  is  concerned,  certainly  none  I 
would  not  gladly  take.  But  I  have 
dreaded  afterwards,  when  the  child 
might  fall  ill  and  need  help  that  we 
could  not  give  it." 

"  Because  there  are  no  doctors  in 
the  world  ? "  said  Adam,  with  a  touch 


The  Master-Knot      275 

of  cynicism.  "  I  don't  know  that  we 
are  not  better  off  without  them.  The 
greatest  of  them  confessed  that  it  was 
guess-work.  The  best  doctors  I  ever 
knew  were  always  trying  to  make 
their  patients  live  more  simply,  take 
more  exercise,  and  give  nature  a 
chance;  they  never  resorted  to  medi 
cine  until  there  was  nothing  else  to 
do.  If  all  the  germs  and  microbes 
have  gone  with  them,  the  earth  can 
stand  the  loss.  The  main  thing  is 
to  be  well  born,  and  when  the  body 
is  healthy  and  leads  a  natural  life, 
while  it  may  know  pain,  it  need  not 
be  a  prey  to  disease.  Very  few  chil 
dren  had  a  heritage  worth  having. 
It  had  been  bartered  away.  No  won 
der  we  were  taught  to  say,  '  There  is 
no  health  in  us/  " 

"Do  you  remember  Gannett's  'Not 
All  There'?"  she  asked  soberly.      "I 


276      The  Master-Knot 

am  not  sure  I  can  recall  it,  but  it  be 
gan  this  way :  — 

"  Something  short  in  the  making, 

Something  lost  on  the  way, 
As  the  little  soul  was  taking 
Its  path  to  the  break  of  day. 

"  Only  his  mood  or  passion, 

But  it  twitched  an  atom  back, 
And  she  for  her  gods  of  fashion 
Filched  from  the  pilgrim's  pack. 

"  The  father  did  not  mean  it, 

The  mother  did  not  know, 
No  human  eye  had  seen  it, 

But  the  little  soul  needed  it  so. 

"  Thro'  the  street  there  passed  a  cripple 

Maimed  from  before  its  birth  ; 

On  the  strange  face  gleamed  a  ripple 

Like  a  half  dawn  on  the  earth. 

u  It  passed,  and  it  awed  the  city 
As  one  not  alive  nor  dead  ; 
Eyes  looked  and  burned  with  pity. 
c  He  is  not  all  there,'  they  said. 


The  Master-Knot      277 

"  Not  all  !  for  part  is  behind  it, 
Lying  dropped  on  the  way  j 
That  part  —  could  two  but  find  it, 
How  welcome  the  end  of  day  !  " 

For  a  long  while  neither  spoke, 
then  Robin  went  on.  The  colt  had 
wandered  back  to  its  mother,  and  she 
sat  with  her  hands  clasped,  and  her 
eyes  looking  far  out  to  sea, 

"I  don't  blame  people  for  dreading 
the  responsibility,  nor  even  for  shirk 
ing  it,  when  I  think  of  all  the  con 
ditions  we  had  to  face.  Men  who 
thought  they  had  hedged  their  trades 
about  with  so  much  skill  that  they 
had  banished  competition,  found  that 
they  had  only  succeeded  in  bringing 
into  the  field  the  machine  that  ban 
ished  them.  And  everywhere  there 
was  such  ghastly  poverty,  —  poverty  of 
body  and  brain  and  soul.  We  had 
gone  back  to  patrons  and  patronesses. 


278      The  Master-Knot 

Men  or  women  did  not  do  anything 
of  themselves  any  more, — they  did 
not  sing  or  play,  or  give  a  reading, 
or  exhibit  a  painting.  They  starved, 
or  they  performed  or  exhibited  'under 
the  auspices  of/  It  has  always  been 
the  same.  Given  a  pure  democracy, 
and  demos  reigns  sooner  or  later. 
The  shiftless  go  to  the  bottom,  the 
thrifty  to  the  top,  and  then  like  the 
upper  and  nether  millstones,  they 
grind  everything  between  them.  That 
which  is  below  cries,  '  Alms  ! '  and  that 
which  is  above  responds,  '  Largesse/ 
and  the  voice  that  cries,  'Justice/  is 
stifled  between.  The  stone  that 
crushed  from  above  and  the  rock  that 
ground  from  below  were  very  near, 
and  men  dreaded  them,  for  when  the 
grist  is  ground,  and  flint  strikes  upon 
flint,  the  conflagration  is  at  hand.  Do 
you  think  I  am  talking  like  a  Popu- 


The  Master-Knot      279 

list  campaign  book  ?  I  only  know 
what  I  saw,  and  what  the  poets  have 
said.  I  wouldn't  dare  to  be  as  radical 
as  Lowell,  nor  as  bitter  as  Tennyson, 
nor  as  savage  as  Carlyle,  or  Ruskin,  or 
Hugo.  We  had  overcome  the  sharp 
ness  of  death,  but  whence  could  we 
hope  for  deliverance  from  the  sharp 
ness  of  living  ? " 

"  We  have  been  delivered,"  said 
Adam,  slowly,  "but  you  don't  seem 
disposed  to  be  the  Miriam  of  this 
Israel  —  limited." 

"Well,  no,"  answered  Robin.  "I 
should  like  to  believe  that  you  and  I 
were  rewarded  for  our  superhuman  ex 
cellence  by  being  saved  when  Pharaoh 
and  his  multitudes  went  under,  but  a 
somewhat  wide  acquaintance  with 
other  people  forbids.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  can't  have  been  left  on  ac 
count  of  our  superlative  badness.  Truly, 


280      The  Master-Knot 

Adam,  don't  you  feel  sometimes  as  if 
you  would  rather  have  died  with  the 
rest?" 

He  hesitated.  The  question  was  so 
unexpected,  and  so  fraught  with  possi 
bilities.  She  watched  the  struggle 
in  his  face  and  honored  him  for  it. 
He  put  back  a  stray  lock  of  hair 
and  kissed  her  forehead  before  he 
answered. 

"  The  streak  of  cowardice  that  we 
all  of  us  have  in  us/'  he  said  finally, 
"  the  distrust  of  myself,  and  the  doubt 
of  all  systems  of  life  of  which  I  know 
anything,  prompts  me  to  answer  yes ; 
for  I  think  even  if  we  had  died,  you 
and  I  would  still  be  together.  I  think 
sometimes  we  have  been,  in  the  past, 
but  whether  we  have  or  not,  I  know 
we  shall  be  in  the  future.  So  while 
the  mental  part  of  me,  —  which  it 
seems  to  me  is  the  weakest  and  most 


The  Master-Knot      281 

contemptible  part  of  man,  because  it  is 
always  reasoning  him  out  of  what  his 
soul  tells  him  is  true,  —  while  the 
mental  part  of  me  might  find  it  easier 
to  be  dead  than  to  know  what  we 
ought  to  do,  everything  else  in  me 
rejoices.  I  know  that  in  the  great 
plan  we  have  a  part,  it  seems  to  me 
a  very  happy  and  beautiful  part.  In 
all  our  world  there  is  no  cause  for 
anger  or  hatred  or  sin.  There  is 
friendliness  and  content  and  gentle 
ness  and  love  all  around  us ;  look  up, 
dear,  and  see  how  near  heaven  seems." 
But  though  she  looked  up,  she  saw 
only  the  light  in  his  eyes. 


XXI 

"We're  all  for  love"  the  violins  said. 

SID  NET  LANIER. 


RABIN'S  music  was  a  source  of 
great  delight  to  both  of  them. 
There  was  such  a  sense  of 
time,  infinite  and  unlimited,  that  they 
ceased  to  be  the  hurrying  mortals  of 
earth.  The  joy  of  life  crept  into  their 
hearts,  and  they  grew  young  with  the 
new  world. 

One  evening  they  watched  the  full 
moon  come  up  over  the  mountains. 
She  had  been  playing  a  few  desultory 
airs,  and  looking  up  asked,  — 

"  Who  is  it  says  '  music  is  love  in 
search  of  a  word  '  ? " 

"  If  you  don't  know,  I  'm  sure  I 
don't,"  answered  Adam,  laughing.  "Do 
you  know  that  you  quote  entirely  too 
much?" 


286      The  Master-Knot 

"  Oh,  yes,"  she  said  lightly.  "  I 
always  knew  that  if  I  ever  should 
break  into  print,  the  critics,  supposing 
they  ever  deigned  to  notice  me,  would 
say,  as  they  said  of  Lubbock's  '  Beauties 
of  Life,'  that  it  was  n't  a  book,  but  a 
compendium  of  useful  quotations.  But 
do  you  really  dislike  quoting  ?  I  think 
it  takes  as  much  or  nearly  as  much 
originality  to  quote  well  as  to  invent." 

"  Oh,  no  !  "   he  interposed. 

"  No  ?  Well,  it  seems  so  to  me.  I 
think  the  thing  first  myself,  that  is 
original  so  far  as  I  am  concerned, 
though  it  may  be  old  as  the  hills,  and 
then  it  comes  to  me  afterward,  in  a 
dozen  ways,  perhaps,  as  other  people 
have  said  it.  I  realize  that  in  the 
kaleidoscope  of  life  the  pattern  before 
my  mind's  eye  approximates  that  which 
others  have  seen.  We  don't  say  a 
man  knows  too  many  synonyms  or 


The  Master-Knot      287 

antonyms,  and  I  don't  see  much 
difference/' 

"  I  have  a  misty  memory  that  quo 
tation  is  said  to  be  a  confession  of 
inferiority,"  answered  Adam. 

"  That 's  Emerson,"  she  said,  laugh 
ing  ;  "but  he  also  says,  *  genius  borrows 
nobly/  and  I  am  willing  to  confess 
inferiority  to  a  great  many  people  ;  all 
that  implies  is  that  one  should  only 
quote  well.  If  it  wasn't  that  I'm  not 
sure  of  the  words,  and  that  I  can't 
verify  them,  I  should  confound  you 
with  a  citation  from  Disraeli." 

"Go  on,"  said  Adam,  lazily;  "I 
don't  mind  being  crushed." 

"  It  is  to  the  effect  that  people  think 
that  where  there  is  no  quotation  there 
must  be  great  originality.  Then  he 
says,  *  the  greater  part  of  our  writers, 
in  consequence,  have  become  so  orig 
inal  that  no  one  cares  to  imitate  them ; 


288       The  Master-Knot 

and  those  who  never  quote  are  seldom 
quoted.'  That 's  about  it.  Now  are 
you  answered  ?  "  She  laughed  glee 
fully.  "  It  is  delicious  to  disagree 
with  you.  I  had  almost  forgotten  that 
it  was  possible." 

He  echoed  her  laugh  with  the  care 
free  heartiness  of  a  boy.  "  I  am  going 
to  make  a  riddle/'  he  said.  "  Prepare 
yourself;  this  is  the  first  conundrum  of 
the  new  world.  Why  is  it  better  to 
disagree  than  to  differ  ? " 

She  made  a  little  grimace.  "  It  's 
a  wonder  the  Sphinx  does  not  rise 
from  the  other  side  of  the  world  and 
eat  you,"  she  said  with  derision.  "  Any 
body  who  loved  anybody  could  answer 
such  a  poor  little  excuse  for  a  riddle  as 
that ;  besides,  it  sounds  like  an  extract 
from  somebody's  '  First  Easy  Lessons 
in  Rhetoric.'  Don't  you  see  that  I 
can  disagree  with  you,  while  I  must 


The  Master-Knot      289 

differ  from  you  ?  That  is  too  dis 
gracefully  easy.  Indeed,  Adam,  that 
riddle  of  yours  brings  back  every 
doubt,  for  they  say  —  scientists  and 
ologists  and  learned  people,  you  know 
—  that  there  is  hope  for  delinquents 
and  defectives,  but  none  for  degener 
ates,  and  that  is  an  awfully  degen 
erate  joke." 

"  Play  for  me/'  he  said,  "  and  don't 
call  names." 

She  lifted  the  bow  and  drew  it 
across  the  strings  in  a  series  of  cadences 
so  wildly  mournful  that  he  shuddered. 
She  put  the  bow  down,  and  laid  her 
hand  upon  the  strings  to  still  them. 
In  the  old  days  she  had  been  given  to 
sudden  changes  of  mood,  but  of  late 
she  had  been  almost  serene. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  he  asked  gently. 

"Oh,  nothing, — everything!  I  was 
thinking  of  another  thing  which  those 


2go      The  Master-Knot 

wise  ones  said,"  she  answered,  with 
more  bitterness  than  she  had  shown 
for  many  months.  "It  was  that  word 
'  degenerate  '  brought  it  back.  You 
know  birds  are  a  very  low  order  of 
being,  a  branch  of  the  reptile  family, 
in  truth,  and  I  have  heard  people  say 
that  musicians  are  generally  lacking 
in  something.  They  either  have  no 
moral  or  financial  sense,  and  cannot  be 
bound  by  ordinary  rules.  And  I  am 
musical  to  the  very  tips  of  my  fingers. 
It  is  as  if  I  could  hear  the  song  of  the 
silence,  —  I  feel  its  vibrations  like 
those  of  a  great  organ." 

She  walked  up  and  down,  her  hands 
back  of  her  head,  and  the  moonlight 
shining  on  her  upturned,  troubled  face. 

"There  is  another  scientific  fact  you 
forget,"  he  said. 

She  stopped  to  listen,  and  he  went 
on. 


The  Master-Knot      291 

"  When  a  race  has  run  its  course, 
nature  cries  '  habet,'  and  nothing  can 
alter  its  fate.  It  was  not  alone  the 
merciless  onslaughts  of  the  white  man 
that  exterminated  the  buffalo.  They 
died,  and  none  came  to  take  their 
places.  They  vanished,  less  on  account 
of  man's  cruelty  than  by  reason  of 
their  own  sterility.  Degenerates  or 
regenerates,  can't  we  leave  the  decision 
with  a  power  that  forever  builds  or 
destroys,  in  accordance  with  a  law  we 
do  not  understand,  a  higher  law  that 
comes  from  the  source  of  all  law, 
whatever  that  source  may  be  ?  Don't 
think  any  more,  but  play  for  me.  In 
spite  of  my  lecture,  I  will  quote  too  ; 
my  mother  used  to  sing  a  hymn  that 
went  like  this,  — 

4 1  'd  soar  and  touch  the  heavenly  strings, 
And  vie  with  Gabriel  while  he  sings/  — 

Do  you  know  it  ? " 


292      The  Master-Knot 

She  began  the  old  tune,  "Ariel/' 
and  then  wandered  on,  playing  many 
airs  that  brought  back  forgotten 
days.  Adam  threw  himself  down 
on  the  grass  to  listen,  half  jealously, 
for  she  seemed  to  forget  everything. 
She  had  seated  herself  on  a  great 
boulder,  and,  leaning  back  against 
it,  her  eyes  looking  into  the  blue 
depths  above  her,  she  played  on  and 
on.  The  old  tunes  were  merged  in 
new  ones,  and  the  high  sustained  notes 
of  the  Cavalleria,  the  subtle  minor  of 
Wagner,  the  exquisite  sweetness  of 
Beethoven  and  Schubert  filled  the 
moonlit  canon,  and  still  she  played  on, 
melodies  new  to  Adam,  intoxicating, 
full  of  a  wild  ecstasy,  that  filled  his 
very  soul,  and  thrilled  through  him 
till  he  felt  all  power  of  resistance 
swept  away.  Every  other  desire  in 
the  world  was  lost  in  the  supreme  and 


The  Master- Knot      293 

overwhelming  longing  to  gather  her 
to  his  heart  and  hold  her  there  forever. 
The  very  air  was  steeped  in  melody. 
The  full  majestic  chords  rose  and 
melted  in  unison  with  the  high,  ex 
quisitely  sweet  notes,  and  throbbed 
their  life  away.  She  held  the  bow 
suspended  a  moment,  then  very  softly, 
half  unconsciously,  played  a  dreamy 
lullaby,  and  laid  the  violin  down  in 
her  lap. 

Adam  took  her  and  it  into  his  arms. 

"Be  careful,  put  it  down  gently/' 
she  said  faintly ;  "  it  is  your  soul  and 
mine.  Do  you  not  know  the  secret 
of  Antonio  Stradivari,  of  all  the 
great  makers  of  violins  ?  Ah,  they 
solved  our  riddle,  Love,  ages  ago.  Do 
you  not  remember  the  story  of  Jacob 
Steiner,  and  how  he  spent  days  and 
days  in  the  woods,  selecting  the  trees 
for  his  violins,  and  how  the  spirits  of 


294      The  Master- Knot 

the  trees  revenged  themselves  by  tell 
ing  him  of  their  ruined  lives  till  he 
went  mad?" 

"But  there  was  no  madness  in  this 
music,"  Adam  answered,  "  except, 
except  —  " 

"  The  supreme,  sublime  madness  of 
love  ?  Do  you  not  know,  surely  you 
do,  that  every  perfect  violin  is  as  much 
man  and  woman  as  you  and  I  ?  The 
back  of  the  violin  is  made  from  the 
timber  of  the  female  tree,  the  belly  of 
the  male  tree.  The  harmony  depends 
on  their  vibrations,  as  they  clasp  each 
other  in  an  embrace  as  real  —  " 

"As  this,"  he  cried,  drawing  her 
closer,  and  bending  his  handsome  head 
until  their  lips  met.  "  Sweet,  must  I 
envy  that  violin?" 

He  felt  her  heart  beating  wildly 
against  his  own,  their  arms  closed 
around  each  other  convulsively.  The 


The  Master-Knot      295 

sweetness  of  the  music-laden,  flower- 
scented  air  filled  his  senses. 

"God!  how  I  love  you!  "   he  said. 

A  frightened  look  came  into  her 
eyes,  and  she  struggled,  for  a  moment, 
futilely. 

"  Let  me  go  !  "  she  whispered  ;  "let 
me  go  !  " 

"  Do  you  want  me  to  ? "  he  an 
swered,  studying  her  face  in  the 
moonlight. 

"No,"  she  said.  "No,  never  again, 
but,  oh,  Adam  ! " 


XXII 

I  'm  weary  of  conjectures  —  this  must  end 
them. 

ADDISON. 


A  AM  had  to  go  to  the  cane- 
fields  across  the   range,  and 
one    of    the    calves    needed 
Robin's  ministrations,  so  she  could  not 
go  with  him.      He  started  before  the 
stars  were  set,  that  he  might  be  back 
before   night,   and    returned    twice  to 
kiss  her  before  he  finally  got  away. 

Left  with  the  long  day  ahead  of 
her,  restless  and  lonely,  she  gave  the 
small  house  a  thorough  sweeping  and 
cleaning.  She  had  finished  her  dust 
ing,  and  was  rearranging  the  furni 
ture,  when  she  shoved  back  the  long 
chest  and  struck  the  framework  of  the 
window  with  some  little  violence. 
It  was  enough  to  jar  a  rusty  key  from 
its  place  above  the  casement,  and  it 
dropped  upon  the  chest  with  a  kind  of 


300      The  Master-Knot 

ominous  clink  as  it  struck  the  lock, 
and  fell  upon  the  floor.  She  took  it  up 
and  looked  at  it  curiously,  and  then, 
kneeling,  fitted  it  in  the  lock. 

"I  wonder,"  she  mused,  "what  I 
shall  set  free  if  I  open  this  box ;  is  it 
Pandora's  ?  But  there  was  nothing  left 
in  hers  but  hope,  and  that  is  all  we 
need.  How  happy  we  could  be  if  we 
dared  to  hope  !  " 

She  turned  the  key  with  a  wrench, 
and  the  hasp  shot  from  its  place.  The 
chest  was  nearly  empty,  there  being 
but  one  parcel  in  it.  This  was  done 
up  carefully  in  a  square  of  linen,  pinned 
here  and  there.  On  the  bottom  of 
the  chest  were  several  folds  of  white 
paper.  Very  slowly  she  lifted  out  the 
parcel  and  opened  it.  The  treasure 
was  a  gown  ;  it  was  of  a  heavy,  satiny 
weave  of  linen,  very  yellow  and  creased. 
The  bodice  was  made  without  sleeves 


The  Master-Knot      301 

or  neck,  and  the  skirt  was  a  kind  of 
kilt  plaited  affair ;  the  whole  effect 
was  Greek,  and,  simple  as  it  was,  it 
seemed  beautiful  to  Robin  after  her 
year  of  dark,  utilitarian  clothing. 
There  was  white  underwear,  and  even 
white  stockings,  and  a  pair  of  slippers. 

Robin  drew  a  long  breath  of  de 
light,  and  laying  all  her  finery  upon 
the  table  placed  the  irons  over  the 
tripod  that  she  might  smooth  the 
wrinkles  out,  and  set  about  making 
the  necessary  alterations  at  once.  She 
worked  rapidly  in  spite  of  her  excite 
ment,  but  the  hours  slipped  away. 

"I  must  try  it  on,"  she  said,  "be 
fore  Adam  comes  ;  there  will  be  plenty 
of  time,  and  then  I  will  put  it  away 
until—" 

Shroud  or  wedding-gown  ?  She  did 
not  finish  the  sentence.  She  dressed 
slowly;  but  when  she  had  finished  she 


302      The  Master-Knot 

was  startled  to  see  that  the  image  in 
the  glass  was  so  much  fairer  than  she 
had  ever  thought  herself.  Suddenly 
she  discovered,  with  something  like 
a  pang,  that  there  was  no  belt,  and 
hurried  back  to  the  chest  to  look 
again. 

As  she  twitched  out  the  remaining 
layer  of  paper  in  her  eagerness,  a  long 
white  satin  ribbon  dropped  from  it, 
and  a  little  heap  of  fine  muslin  lay  on 
the  floor  of  the  chest.  She  caught  up 
the  ribbon  with  an  exclamation  of 
delight  and  adjusted  it  with  trembling 
fingers.  Her  flushed  cheeks  and  radi 
ant  eyes,  the  long  heavy  braid  of  hair, 
her  round  white  arms  and  shoulders, 
made  her  a  vision  of  delight  indeed. 
When  she  had  quite  completed  her 
toilet,  she  sat  down  by  the  chest  to 
inspect  its  last  secret.  As  she  took  up 
the  pile  of  lace  and  muslin,  her  heart 


The  Master-Knot      303 

seemed  to  stop  beating  for  a  moment. 
She  had  forgotten.  Only  the  hands 
of  the  prospective  mother  could  have 
fashioned  such  dainty  garments  as  these. 
Everywhere  the  eternal  question.  All 
her  perplexities  had  fallen  from  her  in 
the  joy  of  dressing  herself  as  Adam's 
bride  should  be  decked,  howbeit  Adam 
saw  her  not,  but  the  great  problem  of 
life  confronted  her  still. 

She  put  the  tiny  garments  down  on 
the  chest,  closed  now,  having  given  up 
its  mystery,  its  hope  of  the  world,  and 
knelt  by  it,  touching  them  with  lov 
ing,  reverent  fingers  till  the  tears 
blinded  her,  and  she  gathered  up  the 
clothes  and  kissed  them  as  she  had 
never  kissed  Adam,  as  she  had  never 
kissed  anything  in  her  life.  After 
awhile  the  tears  ceased  to  flow,  and 
there  stole  over  her  a  gracious  calm 
ness  and  then  the  slumber  of  a  child. 


304      The  Master-Knot 

She  did  not  hear  Adam,  nor  see 
him,  until  he  passed  the  window  and 
stood  in  the  doorway,  all  the  sunset 
glow  back  of  him.  Then  she  started 
to  her  feet,  her  arms  closing  instinc 
tively  over  the  tiny  garments  she  had 
gathered  to  her  breast,  as  she  stepped 
back,  her  face  flushing  and  paling  all 
in  a  moment. 

He  stood  as  if  he  dared  not  move 
lest  the  vision  vanish,  but  heart  and 
soul  looked  out  of  his  eyes. 

"Eve,"  he  said,  "Eve!" 

She  turned,  and  he  sprang  toward 
her  with  an  eager  cry  of  joy. 

"Eve,"  he  repeated,  "Eve,  my  love, 
my  soul!  You  have  decided;  you 
are  going  to  be  my  wife.  Oh,  do  not 
torture  yourself  or  me  any  longer  with 
doubts  that  did  not  enter  the  mind  of 
God  Almighty  when  He  made  us  what 
we  are.  You  are  my  world,  dearer 


The  Master-Knot      305 

than  life,  more  necessary  than  the  air 
we  breathe.  We  are  only  one  being, 
separated  God  knows  how  long,  but 
united  now  forever.  Nothing  can 
part  us  again." 

He  stopped  and  held  out  his  arms 
to  her.  He  had  taken  her  into  their 
shelter  very  often,  but  now  he  wanted 
her  to  come  to  him  and  nestle  against 
his  heart  of  her  own  will.  She 
took  a  single  step,  stretching  out  her 
arms  to  him  with  a  gesture  of  in 
finite  trust  and  abandon.  The  long 
sheer  dress  fluttered  down  to  the  floor, 
and  lay  between  them. 

They  stood  as  still  as  if  frozen. 

"  Dare  you  cross  it  ? "  she  said,  and 
hid  her  face  in  her  hands. 

He  stooped  and  picked  it  up,  and 
looked  at  it  as  a  man  might  look  at 
the  soul  of  something  of  which  he 
had  never  seen  the  body.  He  had  a 


306      The  Master-Knot 

sense  of  his  own  strength,  the  glory  of 
his  manhood,  and  a  vision  of  his  weak 
ness.  She  watched  him  breathlessly. 
He  put  the  garment  down  on  the 
table  and  smoothed  it  out  gently. 
There  was  in  his  face  the  combined 
look  of  a  man  who  sees  the  cradle  and 
the  coffin  of  his  firstborn. 

She  went  and  stood  beside  him, 
touching  the  dress  timidly.  He  cov 
ered  her  hand  with  his  own. 

"  My  wife,"  he  said,  "  we  know  all 
there  is  to  say,  all  there  is  to  risk. 
We  must  do  what  is  right.  I  am 
going  now  to  set  everything  at  liberty. 
It  is  nearly  sundown ;  you  will  meet 
me  at  the  rock  in  half  an  hour.  If 
we  give  each  other  our  right  hands,  we 
will  fear  no  evil,  not  though  we  walk 
through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  for  the  love  in  our  hearts  is 
deathless,  and  though  the  sun  sets,  it 


The  Master-Knot      307 

is  to  rise  upon  another  shore.  Death 
is  only  an  incident,  but  life  is  eternal." 

"  We  could  not  choose  differently  ?" 
And  though  she  spoke  with  the  upward 
inflection  it  was  not  a  question. 

"  No,  it  would  be  quite  impossible 
for  either  of  us  to  desire  what  the 
other  did  not.  And  much  as  we  love 
each  other,  we  will  know  we  have 
loved  our  race  and  honored  God  first 
in  our  decision.  To  live,  if  we  live, 
not  for  ourselves  alone,  but  for  the 
good  of  our  kind;  to  renounce  love, 
the  unspeakable  gift,  if  need  be,  for 
the  sake  of  what  seems  to  us  right." 

"And  if  I  give  you  my  left 
hand  —  ?" 

The  sudden  flash  of  light  in  his 
eyes  half  blinded  her.  He  took  both 
her  hands  in  his  and  looked  deep  in 
her  beautiful  unfathomable  eyes. 

f<Then  the  morning  stars  will  sing 


308      The  Master-Knot 

together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shall 
shout  for  joy.'* 

The  sun  dropped  lower  and  lower 
over  the  high  sharp  peaks  at  the  west, 
covering  their  white  summits  with  a 
flood  of  golden  glory.  The  sullen 
roar  of  the  ocean  seemed  hushed,  and 
across  its  wide  expanse  the  last  beams 
of  the  setting  sun  made  radiant  path 
ways  of  crimson  and  gold.  A  lark  far 
up  in  the  heavens  sang  its  few  clear 
notes  as  it  hastened  homeward.  Far 
away  on  the  mountain-side  the  cattle 
lay  placidly,  and  a  mare  whinnied  to 
her  colt.  The  air  was  soft  and  warm 
and  drowsy  with  the  scent  of  many 
flowers,  the  sounds  of  nestling  birds, 
the  drone  of  an  insect  here  and  there, 
the  cheerful  call  of  the  crickets. 

Adam  stood  by  the  rock  and  waited 
for  her.  She  came  toward  him,  all 
the  light  of  the  world  seeming  to  fall 


The  Master-Knot      309 

upon  her  and  circle  her  in  a  halo  that 
transformed  her  white  draperies,  and 
glistened  like  a  million  gems  in  the 
sparse  grass  about  her  feet. 

They  made  each  other  no  greeting, 
but  stood  and  looked  into  each  other's 
eyes,  grave  and  sweet  with  the  exalta 
tion  of  their  purpose.  And,  standing 
so,  they  clasped  hands,  and  the  word 
they  spoke  was  the  same,  for  they  by 
searching  had  found  out  God. 


NEW   FICTION 

Sir  Christopher 

A  Romance  of  a  Maryland  Manor  in  1644.  By  MAUD  WIL 
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THE  events  of  the    new  historical  romance  by  the  author  of 
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reappear  in  its  pages.      It  is   highly  dramatic,   full  of  incident,  and 
contains  some  charming  love  scenes. 

Like  Mrs.  Goodwin's  previous  stories,  however,  it  is  more  than  a 
mere  romance,  for  it  has  a  strong  historical  background,  and  it 
gives  a  faithful  and  vivid  picture  of  Colonial  days. 

The  Love-Letters  of  the  King 

Or,  The  Life  Romantic.  By  RICHARD  LE  GALLIENNE, 
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THIS  delightful  story  is  told  with  the  author's  usual  literary 
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Ballantyne 


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ANEW  and  distinctively  American  story,  with  a  distinctively 
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Its  hero,  Ballantyne,  though  American  by  inheritance,  has  been 
brought  up  in  an  English  home  by  a  mother  whose  one  wish  is  that 
he  shall  never  visit  America.  But  to  Ballantyne  America  has  been 
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A  novel  and  original  part  of  the  story  is  the  vivid  description  of  the 
"Brotherhood"  in  New  Jersey  where  Ballantyne  visited,  much 
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A  Romance  of  North  and  South.  By  SIDNEY  McCALL. 
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A  Daughter  of  New  France 

With  some  Account  of  the  Gallant  Sieur  Cadillac  and  his 
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THIS    brilliant  story  opens  up  a  new  field  in  American  historical 
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the  early  days  of  the  French  settlement  of  Detroit. 

"It  is  the  object  of  this  narrative,"  says  the  author,  "  to  go 
back  to  the  treasure-houses  of  French-Canadian  history,  Quebec 
and  Montreal  ;  to  sketch  the  society  of  the  city  of  Champlain  at 
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NEW  FICTION 
The  American  Husband  in  Paris 

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The  Head  of  a  Hundred  in  the 
Colony  of  Virginia,  1622 

By  MAUD  WILDER  GOODWIN,  author  of  "White 
Aprons,"  "Flint"  "  The  Colonial  Cavalier,"  etc.  Illustrated 
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Well  deserves  its  popularity.  —  Detroit  Free  Press. 

She  has  indeed  added  a  valuable  page  to  the  literature  of  Virginia.  .  .  . 
The  story  goes  with  a  rush  from  start  to  finish.  —  San  Francisco  Bulletin. 

From  Kingdom  to  Colony 

By  MARY  DEVEREUX.  Illustrated  by  Henry  Sandham. 
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We  had  not  proceeded  far  into  the  story  before  we  found  ourselves  deeply 
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also  because  of  the  delicate  and  subtle  grace  of  style.  .  .  .  The  author's 
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The  work  of  the  minute-men,  of  the  scouts  and  the  Marblehead  fishermen, 
takes  on  an  entirely  new  and  thrilling  interest  when  shown  as  figuring  in  the 
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For  the  Queen  in  South  Africa 

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Currita,  Countess  of  Albornoz 

A  Novel  of  Madrid  Society.  By  LUIS  COLOMA.  Trans 
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An  uncommonly  interesting  book.  —  Neiv  York  Times. 


Empress  Octavia 


A  Romance  of  the  Court  of  Nero.  By  WILHELM  WAL- 
LOTH.  Translated  by  Mary  J.  Safford.  iamo.  $1.50. 
3d  Edition. 


NEW  FICTION 
The  Knights  of  the  Cross 

By  HENRYK  SIENKIEWICZ,  Author  of  "Quo  Vadis." 
Authorized  and  unabridged  translation  by  Jeremiah  Curtin. 
Two  Vols.  Crown  8vo.  Cloth.  Price  $2.00.  Eighth  Edition. 

A  great,  a  wonderful  story  —  one  that  marks  the  author  as  a  historical 
novelist  of  the  first  rank.  — Brooklyn  Eagle. 

The  stamp  of  verity  and  the  glow  of  original  genius  are  on  every  page.  — 
New  York  Times. 

In  "The  Knights  of  the  Cross,"  Sienkiewicz  is  at  his  best.  It  is  full  of 
life  and  action,  its  characters  are  of  flesh  and  blood,  its  interest  never  flags,  and 
the  reader,  hurried  through  scenes  daringly  conceived  and  brilliantly  executed, 
follows  with  breathless  interest  the  fortunes  of  the  hero.  —  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

A  Dream  of  a  Throne 

The  Story  of  a  Mexican  Revolt.  By  CHARLES  F. 
EMBREE.  Illustrated  by  Henry  Sandham.  i2mo.  $1.50. 
Fifth  Edition. 

Highly  original  and  dramatic.  .  .  .  The  free  mountain  air  seems  to  blow 
through  its  pages.  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

Outside  of  history,  the  most  considerable  contribution  to  American  literature 
inspired  by  Mexican  themes.  —  Mexican  Herald. 

Sigurd  Eckdal's  Bride 

By  RICHARD  VOSS.  Translated  by  Mary  J.  Safford. 
Illustrated  by  F.  E.  Schoonover.  i2mo.  $1.50. 

An  unforgettable  novel.  —  Boston  Transcript. 

Sounds  the  dominant  note  of  contemporary  Scandinavian  literature.  —  Mail 
and  Express,  N.  Y. 

The  Arctic  expedition,  by  means  of  a  balloon,  furnishes  a  powerful  feature  of 
the  plot,  but  from  first  to  last  the  story  is  wonderful  in  strength  and  in  literary 
grace.  —  Providence  Telegram. 

The  Parsonage  Porch 

Seven  Stories  from  the  Note  Book  of  a  Clergyman.  By 
BRADLEY  OILMAN.  i6mo.  $1.00.  Second  Edition. 

He  presents  many  of  the  common  characters  and  experiences  of  life  with  a 
masterful  hand,  interesting,  delighting,  and  ennobling  the  reader.  It  is  a  good 
book  for  everybody  and  any  place.  —  Zion"1  s  Herald. 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  &  CO.,  Publishers, 
254  WASHINGTON  STREET,  BOSTON. 


JfB  334C6 


